Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

This complex-yet-simple novel has several running themes: appreciation of family, ancestry, and pride in both; the importance of a college education; and the essential nature of storytelling. Beginning with a escaped slave who is welcomed into a Creek Indian village in 1733, the saga of the Garfield family of Chicasetta, Georgia (which began as a native settlement and became a plantation and then a quiet backwater, is a character onto itself) and their relations with their white enslavers and with an HBCU, Routledge University. The main character, Ailey Garfield, is the youngest of three daughters, and is supported by her parents, her sister Lydia, who succumbs to addiction, and her Uncle Root, her primary cheerleader and a former professor at Routledge. Along the journey, Ailey becomes involved with several cruel boyfriends as she tries to define her purpose and not to waste her noble heritage. The audio book is voluminous, but the readers and the words are enthralling through the entire 30 hours.… (more)