A Generational Novel That Maybe Should Have Stayed In One Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Margaret Wilkerson's writing is  strong and structured.  Her premise is simple--trace three generations of women.  In the present,  there is Ava,  a  single  mother of mixed racial origin,  who moves in with Martha, her white  grandmother, and a  kind of Miss Havisham.  And equally demanding.  Their story is contrasted with an earlier descendant, Josephine, whose story spans from 1855 to 1924, as she works herself from  slave  to plantation owner.

                                          And herein lies the problem.  So interesting is Josephine's story, that the others' pale by comparison.  More time  should have been spent on Josephine, or maybe Wilkerson should have gone for a trilogy about each.  Whenever things  came back to Ava or Martha, I was not nearly as engaged as with Josephine's story.  So, I am not sure I am going to follow Wilkerson.  That remains to be seen.

                                           Also,  the title is tricky.  I sometimes hear people refer to it as "The Revisionaries," which may be someone else's work entirely.

                                             Flawed, but recommended, this is a must for fans of socio-literary fiction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              But there are better works out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!