I Must Be The Queen Of Black History Month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        Really!  Who would have thought?

                                         Over the past month, through chance circumstance, I have read three books on aspects of this topic.  Two I have posted about on here--"Thomas Jefferson Dreams Of Sally Hemmings," by Stephen O'Connor, and "The Underground Railroad," by Colson Whitehead, which, surprisingly to me, lived up to all the hype generated.  Though my favorite was the O'Connor book.

                                            And now I have read "Lazaretto," by a writer I never heard of, Diane McKinney-Whetstone, who lives in Philadelphia, where her novel is set, just at the point of Lincoln's assassination.  What follows is a twisted generation saga of secrets and betrayal, that culminates in the titled place, an island off the coast, where the quarantined ill are cared for.

                                            Miss McKinney-Whetstone is no Toni Morrison in the literary department, but her sense of narrative  is breathtaking, and the story sweeps along at a hare's pace.  But no doubt this woman did her homework--a grisly sequence, involving an amputation of a leg, is so meticulously detailed, she had to have researched the procedure to describe it as accurately as she does--and for the period.  I must confess I found this part hard to take, and had to put the book down.  But not to the point where I could not finish it.  Her characters and their entwining  fates are so interesting I was compelled to go on.

                                            I have to thank my friend, Judy, for recommending this to me.  I want to explore her other writings.

                                             Best read while eatin' dat corn bread, chillun'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!