Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine

 

My thoughts

This was such a beautiful story. A debut novel about a subject that is not talked about very much. A story that will draw you in and have you cringing at things that happened. A story about slavery in Alabama in the 1800s right before the Civil War. This one is about families during the time when black people were treated property. Not even as good as animals in many cases. Also the story of two friends during this time. And a love story....

Junie is a sixteen year old slave girl. She's the maid to a white girl, Violet McQueen. As you get to know this young lady you will see how much she grows. How she fights for what she wants even when it seems she is giving up or being lazy. 

Junie is Violet's maid. Though much darker that most housemaids, Violet seems to care for her. Claims she is her best friend. Yes they grew up together. Violet taught Junie how to read. How to write. They are almost as close as sisters. But they are not sisters. One is the maid and the other her master. 

I loved Junie. She was so full of hope and laughter. So full of life. When she meets Caleb her life changes. They fall for each other over a matter of months. Caleb is the slave to guests who came to stay with the McQueens for a week. Everyone's life takes a big turn after this visit. Including Violet and Junie. Violet is to marry and Junie doesn't want to have to leave her family. This is the way of things back then. In a heartbeat families were torn apart. A slave owner would decide to sell a slave and it didn't matter that they were someones child or mother. It was the way of things. A cruel heartless way of things.

This story is a lot. It's history. It's a love story. Maybe two love stories. It's a story of hope. Of finding ones self. Of new beginnings. A story of hope. Hope for better things...

Do not miss the Author's Notes at the end. So worth reading...

Thank you #NetGalley, #RandomHousePublishing, #Ballantine, for this ARC. 

About

A young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister’s ghost, navigating truths about love, friendship, and power as the Civil War looms.

Sixteen years old and enslaved since she was born, Junie has spent her life on Bellereine Plantation in Alabama, cooking and cleaning alongside her family, and tending to the white master’s daughter, Violet. Her daydreams are filled with poetry and faraway worlds, while she spends her nights secretly roaming through the forest, consumed with grief over the sudden death of her older sister, Minnie.

When wealthy guests arrive from New Orleans, hinting at marriage for Violet and upending Junie’s life, she commits a desperate act—one that rouses Minnie’s spirit from the grave, tethered to this world unless Junie can free her. She enlists the aid of Caleb, the guests’ coachman, and their friendship soon becomes something more. Yet as long-held truths begin to crumble, she realizes Bellereine is harboring dark and horrifying secrets that can no longer be ignored.

With time ticking down, Junie begins to push against the harsh current that has controlled her entire life. As she grapples with an increasingly unfamiliar world in which she has little control, she is forced to ask herself: When we choose love and liberation, what must we leave behind?