Sister of Mine by Sabra Waldfogel

Hello there!  I am just back from a wonderful week in Barbados!  It was amazing! 

This is the teachers and friends book club selection for this month.  It was chosen by a music teacher in our group, but not Ms. M. I took it as my reading material on the plane.  However, I STRUGGLED!  I was only able to get through three chapters on a five hour flight. On the return flight, I only got in another two.  This was a ROUGH start.  I texted Ms. M. and she too was on Chapter 6.  We did something I've never done before--read together and motivated each other by text.  We were able to talk through some points and keep each other going.  I have to say the book gets much better after section 1.  I felt like the author was trying to figure out exactly where she wanted to go and didn't have a clear idea until 7 or so chapters in.  From there, I was satisfied with the plot.  Until it just ended.  Like, THUD.  Turns out this is book 1 of a duology.  And it just, ends.  Lots of loose threads.  

The story centers around a Jewish immigrant plantation owner's two daughters: his proper societal lady Adelaide and her slave Rachel.  Adelaide's father Mordecai is a shrewd businessman who seems to forget his ancestors were slaves in Egypt in order to sell more cotton.  Adelaide learns she and Rachel are sisters, and she loves her as one, even teaching Rachel to read.  Rosa, Adelaide's mother hates Rachel as a constant reminder of her husband's unfaithfulness, but Mordecai will not sell her.  

Adelaide, a free spirit, ruins her engagement to the son of her father's business partner.  Her mother will only allow a Jewish marriage, so she is married off to a tailor with a hefty loan from Mordecai to start his own plantation.  Henry struggles with being a slave owner and business in general.  Henry and Rachel fall in love, and the terrible cycle repeats itself of a child born in slavery to a white father.  

Then The Civil War erupts.  

I don't want to spoil too much more, although I really don't know how the story ends, since the plot simply ends with much more to wrap up.  We will be discussing this tonight at Katz, as we continue to match plot/characters with restaurant.  Later, we're going to see the movie version of Where The Crawdads Sing. 

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely mine.