Tayari Jones’s latest novel is a beautifully rendered story of two motherless daughters – self-named “cradle friends” -- raised together in the small town of Honeysuckle, Louisiana who, despite growing apart and living entirely contrasting lives as adults, manage to maintain their lifelong friendship and sisterhood truly through thick and thin.
After her mother’s death at the hands of her father, Vernice (Niecy) was taken in by her Aunt Irene (her mother’s sister) and raised to be a refined young lady who not only ends up attending Spelman College (one of the most elite schools for Black women), but also marries into a powerful and rich family where she finally gets to experience the “motherly love” that she had been yearning for since childhood. Annie, on the other hand, experiences a completely different fate as she longs to find the mother who abandoned her as a baby, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother. When she inadvertently stumbles across a potential address for her mother, Annie sets off on a perilous journey that takes her on what is essentially a wild goose chase across the American South, searching for her mother while also experiencing love and friendship in the process.
The story is told through the alternating first-person perspectives of Niecy and Annie, and I have to say that this structure worked really well because as a reader, I felt as though I was experiencing everything alongside both women. Jones has a wonderful way of writing unforgettable characters whom we can’t help but root for and love, despite their obvious shortcomings, and this was definitely the case with Niecy and Annie. I love the strong bond between these two characters and the “kinship” they shared despite not being related by blood (there’s a scene late in the book where Niecy refers to Annie as “family” – reading that honestly made me cry). Jones is a masterful writer who has the unique ability of taking a complex theme and weaving an emotionally rich, nuanced story that balances both humor and heartbreak in a powerful and moving way. With the exception of the ending, which gutted me (it was hard not to cry given how invested I was in these characters), the rest of the story was well-balanced on the emotional front (in terms of being both heartwarming and heartbreaking), while also giving us a realistic view of what it means to be a Black woman living in the South during the 1950s and 60s.
This book is getting a lot of buzz (it was recently chosen for Oprah’s Book Club) and deservedly so, in my opinion. Definitely prioritize this one if you get a chance to pick it up – it is truly a wonderful read!
Received ARC from Knopf via NetGalley.
