Night Hawk by Beverly Jenkins

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Night Hawk by Beverly Jenkins

Lead characters Maggie and Ian, aka Preacher or Bigelow, represent an increasing number of romances that feature mixed race characters. This is a refreshing departure from the polarized version of American society that is often represented in American narratives. Instead, these characters demonstrate what has happened in the United States. It’s a brave and fearlessly true story of how we have blended with other groups. Maggie is part Kaw (Native American) and part African American. Ian is Scotts and of African descent. The story tells of their coincidental meeting as Maggie is arrested for a killing in self defense, and Ian, a deputized Marshall is charged with taking her to the next town to protect her from a crooked vigilante. The father of the man who she has accidentally killed wants revenge and will not stop until he sees Maggie dead. This leads to a set of circumstances where the Marshall must protect her from other people who are Maggie’s enemies since she has found herself in a series of vulnerable work related circumstances that compromise her safety. She, like Ian, has been harassed and treated badly partly because of her mixed race identity where bigotry reigns in the late 1800s west. Ian likewise has been abused in Scotland by children who are unable to tolerate his mixed race heritage. The story is one of finding refuge in a chaotic time. Ian owns a ranch in Montana where the couple ultimately settle, only to find challenges to their happiness there as well. The book is realistically developed with a bevy of other characters who represent Asian and First Nations people who rarely get roles in fiction and non fiction about the development of American life.

Dale Marie Taylor, Ph.D. literary studies

Youtube Video Link:

https://youtu.be/V2lZkqM84yE

Check out my novels: A Home for Easter, Hester’s Journey and Carrie’s Song.

Forbidden by Beverly Jenkins

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See my YouTube video that reviews this book: https://youtu.be/c0iAS5v6Jjk

This story has all the makings of support for our current lives. Rhine Fontaine, who is passing as white in Virginia City, Nevada, finds Eddy Carmichael, a beautiful woman of African descent, in the desert near death. He and his partner, Jim Dade, take her back to Rhine’s salon to recover. She is on her way to California when she is robbed by a fake priest and set out in the desert to die. Rhine falls in love with her but must make the choice to reclaim his African American identity, thereby stepping over the color line and admitting that he was born the son of a woman of African descent. He does so and all of the expected complications and bigotry arrive. However, he is shielded partly by his half brother, who is white, and partly by his enormous wealth. This story recalls Nella Larsen’s Passing, which does not end with the same optimistic outcome as Jenkins’ novel. Of course, technically, Larsen’s story is not the same kind of romance as Jenkins’. However, note that time has lessened the animosity authors have applied to mixed race characters. In Jenkins’ story, Rhine is welcomed into the fold of African American society. Though a fictional character, readers might find this believable because he is wealthy and has always welcomed people of African descent into his saloon. Anyone interested in how interracial couples and African Americans and mixed race people of African descent negotiated life in late 1800s reconstruction era Nevada, will find this read intriguing. We can see in this story a reflection of how attitudes about mixed race people, passing and racism have shaped us, but also how we are beginning as Americans to shape a different view of how we can live. The story is believable for its time in that we have a couple cocooned within an African American community. It suggests, optimistically, that we are growing as a people who are adjusting to change in spite of the many challenges we still face.

Dale Marie Taylor, Ph.d., literary studies. See daletaylorbooks.com. Check you Dale’s historical fiction books: Carrie’s Song, A Home for Easter, and Hester’s Journey. Available at e-book retailers and at Amazon as a paperback.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dale.m.taylor.9

A Home for Easter: https://books2read.com/u/baZ8kq

Hester’s Journey: https://books2read.com/u/3JnYBe

Carrie’s Song: https://books2read.com/u/3n5dye

Print books:

A Home for Easter: https://www.amazon.com/dp/173390509X

Hester’s Journey: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C91K1N1P

Carrie’s Song: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733905073

Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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An interesting take on the lives of Nigerians during the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970). The effect the war is having on the lives of Nigerians is represented through the lives of about five characters. The story jumps around in time showing life for the family and associates before and during the war. “English people who thought they understood Africans better than Africans understood themselves. . . “ The story is a candid view of the struggle for survival and autonomy within a volatile African landscape. It looks back at a revolutionary period and expresses both hope and irony about the past and the future.

The book is about the intersection of class and race; we see inside Nigerian society as a young woman, Olanna, struggles to find her place. Her parents see her as a sexual pawn for developing wealth and political importance. If you are looking for a book that helps explain some aspects of the Nigerian Civil War of the late 1960s, this is a good narrative for helping one understand the intricacies of political and social dynamics of that time.

The major female protagonist’s twin sister Kainene, a doppleganger, seems to understand the struggle Olanna feels while still deriding Olanna for her interest in her revolutionary lover.

A couple of poignant quotes:

Richard—He thought about how easily those Igbo words had slipped out of him. “I am a Biafran.” He did not know why, but he hoped the driver would not tell Kainene that he had said that” (404).

Susan—longer than another week. “These people never fight civilized wars, do they? So much for calling it a civil war.” Susan paused. “I rang the British Council in Enugu and I can’t believe our people there are still going off to play water polo and have cocktails at the Hotel Presidential! There’s a bloody war going on” (405).

Review by Dale Marie Taylor, Ph.D. Literary Studies, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Author of A Home for Easter, Hester’s Journey, Carrie’s Song — at Amazon and ebook retailers.

Dale Marie Taylor Comment

Historical Fiction, African History

Book reviews Nigerian, Book reviews by Dale Marie Taylor

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