In the aftermath of a devastating tornado that rips through the town of Tupelo, Mississippi, at the height of the Great Depression, two women worlds apart—one black, one white; one a great-grandmother, the other a teenager—fight for their families’ survival in this lyrical and powerful novel“Gwin’s gift shines in the complexity of her characters and their fraught relationships with each other, … with each other, their capacity for courage and hope, coupled with their passion for justice.” — Jonis Agee, bestselling author of The River Wife
A few minutes after 9 p.m. on Palm Sunday, April 5, 1936, a massive funnel cloud flashing a giant fireball and roaring like a runaway train careened into the thriving cotton-mill town of Tupelo, Mississippi, killing more than 200 people, not counting an unknown number of black citizens, one-third of Tupelo’s population, who were not included in the official casualty figures.
When the tornado hits, Dovey, a local laundress, is flung by the terrifying winds into a nearby lake. Bruised and nearly drowned, she makes her way across Tupelo to find her small family—her hardworking husband, Virgil, her clever sixteen-year-old granddaughter, Dreama, and Promise, Dreama’s beautiful light-skinned three-month-old son.
Slowly navigating the broken streets of Tupelo, Dovey stops at the house of the despised McNabb family. Inside, she discovers that the tornado has spared no one, including Jo, the McNabbs’ dutiful teenage daughter, who has suffered a terrible head wound. When Jo later discovers a baby in the wreckage, she is certain that she’s found her baby brother, Tommy, and vows to protect him.
During the harrowing hours and days of the chaos that follows, Jo and Dovey will struggle to navigate a landscape of disaster and to battle both the demons and the history that link and haunt them. Drawing on historical events, Minrose Gwin beautifully imagines natural and human destruction in the deep South of the 1930s through the experiences of two remarkable women whose lives are indelibly connected by forces beyond their control. A story of loss, hope, despair, grit, courage, and race, Promise reminds us of the transformative power and promise that come from confronting our most troubled relations with one another.
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Just plain loved this book. So glad I read it. Highly recommend,
I enjoyed a previous novel by this author and wanted to read some of her earlier books. This was the first one that I read and it was really good – not sure how I missed it when it was published. It’s a real page turner with some interesting characters. I thought that the middle of it dragged and that it could have been shorter but overall it was great and I plan to continue to read her older books.
On Palm Sunday, April 5, 1936, a massive funnel cloud flashing a giant fireball and roaring like a runaway train careened into the thriving cotton-mill town of Tupelo, Mississippi, killing more than 200 people, not counting an unknown number of black citizens, one-third of Tupelo’s population, who were not included in the official casualty figures. This novel is about Dovey, a black laundress, and her family in the aftermath of this massive tornado. After the tornado struck, Dovey woke up in Gum Pond. She almost drowned until she was able to pull herself out of the water. When she finally located her house, it was totally demolished. She sets out on quest to find her husband, granddaughter and Promise – her granddaughters baby. What she encounters is horrific – the town is totally destroyed, there are bodies everywhere and people wandering around in shock. What was really horrible is that despite all of the pain and suffering going on, the white townspeople still showed their racial prejudice in everything they said and did. The black members of the community got less care and concern than the white people and there wasn’t even a list of the black causalities. Dovey’s goal to find her family is filled with danger and pain because she is suffering from numerous injuries. She tries to ignore her injuries because she knows how important it is to find her family.
This was an interesting well written book about how people coped with the aftermath of a disaster. I enjoyed the book and won’t soon forget Dovey and her search for her family.
I loved the characters in this book. They were so authentically southern in a traditional way. The story was intense. Not just because of the massive tornado that turned the characters’ lives upside down, but the gruesome details were a bit much in some areas. I understand that the aftermath of a tornado isn’t pretty, but I also don’t need to lose my lunch for you to get the point across.
Towards the end, the story seemed to drag and repeat itself. I started skimming the last three chapters because I was ready to be done with the story (good as it was). For example: a character could hear something and three pages later, after reminiscing about details I was already familiar with and questioning herself, I finally get to find out about the noise. It became tedious. This is just my opinion, though.
Promise is a good story, a well written book with wonderful characters, and I do believe that this book is worth a try. Just keep in mind, as with all books, it won’t be for everyone.
There are a couple of obvious historical errors and some grammatical errors. However, if you look past these, the story is wonderful. It takes place in the aftermath of the 1939 tornado in Tupelo, Mississippi and is an eye opener for people who are unfamiliar with the history of the “old south.” In the aftermath of the tornado, life for black peole and white people was very different, and Meacham’s characters are hauntingly real. I will never forget this book!
This book caught your attention from the first page. It showed strength in some and weakness in other’s. The characters were human and believable. Compassion and love was shown in all their human faults and failings. When times got bad some had great strength. It shows when catastrophic conditions happen some help all and some can’t help themselves. A very great telling of a horrible hurricane and those that survived and how they handled the knowledge of those that didn’t.
what a beautiful delightful book, I absolutely loved it. I was reading it so fast and I kept wanting to pace myself, just didn’t want it to end. The characters are so good, but what’s with the husbands in this book? The ending is so fabulous. I won this book from Good Reads for my honest opinion. On page 265 it says: Come in, stay as long as you like, we are all going to be all right. Glory, to the word would get out and every poor homeless soul would come. Everybody in creation, white and Negro, rich and poor, smart and feebleminded. That’s just beautiful.
I loved this story line, and the strength of the characters, I had to keep reminding myself that this is based on true facts. This is an excellent read and I highly, highly recommend.
Thanks again Good Reads.
The Author did a wonderful job and has a new fan.
Wow! Minrose Gwin has crafted a gruesomely descriptive story in Promise! I live in the Midwest and tornadoes are one of my biggest fears. I felt as if I was actually there experiencing the aftermath. Once I started reading, I didn’t want to stop!