River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

 

My thoughts

It's so hard to believe this is a debut novel. It's stunning. It's beautiful. It's heartbreaking. Many times I broke down and cried while reading this story. But the author wrote a piece of poetry here. One that is both heartbreaking and sad. It's written with such feeling. 

I didn't realize that slavery existed in other countries. Well I knew it did but didn't know anything about it. We didn't learn much about these things in school. I had no idea about Barbados slavery. I learn much when I read and this book was no exception. I learn how strong the black women were. How hard they fought for their children. How they had to learn to not have feelings in some cases. It made it easier when the white men came and took away they babies. But when they come and take your young child when they are still teens... You've bonded. You've thought that possibly they are yours and you can keep them. Women, Black Women fought to find their children. This is one such story. 

Rachel's story.

Rachel had five children who lived. Three girls and two boys. They were all eventually taken. Sold. Lost to her. But when the The Emancipation Act came into effect but the slaves were told they had to stay for six years as "apprentices", Rachel felt like it was a false freedom. How can you be deemed free if you have to stay longer. Rachel decided to run. To go and find her children. She had not seem some in many years. 

This mother went through many hardships to find out what happened to her children. Find out where they were. If they were alive. If they even wanted to see her or be part of her life. What this woman went through was so sad and yet miraculous beautiful in ways also. Nothing is beautiful about being enslaved but the heart and soul she put into finding her babies was heartbreakingly beautiful. 

A story that will touch your heart. Bring many tears to your eyes. Bring hope in places. Teach you something. Possibly help you understand why even today black people fight for their own. When they are killed. Murdered. Shot by some that should be protecting. I see where that fierce love comes from now. To me it seems it's an inherited, instilled, handed down from many generations. A strong bond that other's just can't understand or feel. Yes we all love our children but this is just different. It's a much deeper sense of protection. I can't think of the right word to use here. I just know what I'm trying to say. I feel it every time I watch the news and hear of another person being shot.... Needlessly.

This book is one that will stick with you. Give you a look inside one woman's journey to find her children. It's so good. Be sure and read the Author's note. It holds a lot and shows that a lot of research went into this. It's based on an actual woman. Actual events. 

I gave it FIVE huge stars. It was my BOTM choice and I'm so glad I read it.

About 

Her search begins with an ending....

The master of the Providence plantation in Barbados gathers his slaves and announces the king has decreed an end to slavery. As of the following day, the Emancipation Act of 1834 will come into effect. The cries of joy fall silent when he announces that they are no longer his slaves; they are now his apprentices. No one can leave. They must work for him for another six years. Freedom is just another name for the life they have always lived. So Rachel runs.

Away from Providence, she begins a desperate search to find her children--the five who survived birth and were sold. Are any of them still alive? Rachel has to know. The grueling, dangerous journey takes her from Barbados then, by river, deep into the forest of British Guiana and finally across the sea to Trinidad. She is driven on by the certainty that a mother cannot be truly free without knowing what has become of her children, even if the answer is more than she can bear. These are the stories of Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy. But above all this is the story of Rachel and the extraordinary lengths to which a mother will go to find her children...and her freedom.