“Stunning. … Family is at the core of Remembrance, the breathtaking debut novel by Rita Woods.” — The Boston Globe. This breakout historical debut with modern resonance is perfect for the many fans of The Underground Railroad and Orphan Train. Remembrance…It’s a rumor, a whisper passed in the fields and veiled behind sheets of laundry. A hidden stop on the underground road to freedom, a … laundry. A hidden stop on the underground road to freedom, a safe haven protected by more than secrecy…if you can make it there.
Ohio, present day. An elderly woman who is more than she seems warns against rising racism as a young nurse grapples with her life.
Haiti, 1791, on the brink of revolution. When the slave Abigail is forced from her children to take her mistress to safety, she discovers New Orleans has its own powers.
1857 New Orleans—a city of unrest: Following tragedy, house girl Margot is sold just before her promised freedom. Desperate, she escapes and chases a whisper…. Remembrance.
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I am in awe of this book!
I’m not sure what I expected when I selected this book I’d heard so very much about, but I know that I got so very much more.
The author moves seamlessly from one character to the next, through one timeline to another. This book is so beautifully written. And yet, that’s not what captures my heart. And yes, my tears are flowing while I write this, and ask anyone, I don’t cry.
The beauty is the magic, the hope. As a white woman, the pain that I only know when someone shows me, and make no mistake, Ms. Woods shows all of it – the pain and the fear and the hope.
Read this book.
An interesting blend of magic and physics—quantum mechanics, to be exact—with Remembrance being a home for escaped slaves, but it exists in a different dimension.
4 / 5 stars
This historical fiction laced with magical realism is set during multiple timelines, over three locations, and follows the narrative of four black women. I was pulled in from the start and found myself eagerly turning the pages to find what was going to happen next.
“Remembrance by Rita Woods is a breakout historical debut with modern resonance, perfect for the many fans of The Underground Railroad and Orphan Train.”
“Remembrance…It’s a rumor, a whisper passed in the fields and veiled behind sheets of laundry. A hidden stop on the underground road to freedom, a safe haven protected by more than secrecy…if you can make it there.
Ohio, present day. An elderly woman who is more than she seems warns against rising racism as a young woman grapples with her life.
Haiti, 1791, on the brink of revolution. When the slave Abigail is forced from her children to take her mistress to safety, she discovers New Orleans has its own powers.
1857 New Orleans—a city of unrest: Following tragedy, house girl Margot is sold just before her 18th birthday and her promised freedom. Desperate, she escapes and chases a whisper…. Remembrance.”
Gorgeous, twisty historical fiction with a fantasy element that will break your heart and boil your blood. Strong women and men fighting back against slavers, misery and mistreatment, all while trying to untangle their own private mysteries. Looking forward to whatever Woods does next.
Remembrance by author, Dr. Rita Woods is an unforgettable story with many moving parts. Rita Woods places her readers in a disorienting space. It seems unclear where the story is coming from or where it is going. The author holds us steady with her poetic detail such that it grips us to the story and compels us to keep reading.
Remembrance crosses time, space, movement, language, culture, disciplines, and more. The story of generations of women is woven into a coherent whole, with historical roots that resonate today. The author engages our senses as we observe extraordinary human suffering, loss, grief, and hope in the face of life and death. This book compels our appreciation of the struggles of our ancestors for justice, freedom, and dignity.
Remembrance is a timely book in an era when we chant Black Lives Matter, celebrate 100 years of women’s votes, and continue our struggles for freedom and justice in our time.
Readers will be well served to read this book with the assurance that they will discuss it later in a book club, or in some format where they may air their inevitable observations, questions, and moments of light and clarity. You will want to reread, perhaps aloud, your favorite sentences, paragraphs, pages, and chapters as you would your favorite poems.
In summary, I dream of seeing this extraordinary story unfold on the big screen or on stage in an intimate theater. Remembrance is a rare feast for a hungry audience.
Full disclosure: I have never really enjoyed supernatural or fantasy elements in my historical fiction. I also dislike most alternative history. I could not get into The Underground Railroad (by Colson W.) no matter how badly I wanted to. But Remembrance caught my eye. Here’s why: Woods uses an element (voodoo) that is reasonable for the time, but still markedly different than usual alternatives to history. In other words, it’s unique but not ridiculous.
Essentially, this book revolves around a fictional settlement called Remembrance that acts as a safe haven for free blacks and runaway slaves. How can this be, in the middle of the US pre Civil War? I don’t think telling you will give away any spoilers. After a time of horror, recovery (if one can ever recover), and self-discovery, Abigail bends space to makes the settlement invisible. She and her friend Josiah sort of keep each other alive and the settlement safe, in a way.
But people don’t live forever, and Remembrance can’t be invisible forever either. When the first slave catcher makes it in unhindered, life in remembrance begins to crumble, but it also reveals the strength and loyalty that people carry deep down. Layers of mystery and suspense unfold to reveal inter-connected characters that face huge odds. Even with the three timelines that end up converging, and the multiple characters, Woods makes crafting these characters seem effortless.
I didn’t feel a super strong connection to the characters but I also know I can’t completely identify with them, so I was mostly on the outside of the story, watching. It didn’t detract from the experience much.
Woods weaves a tale that reveals the best and worst parts of all of us, whether it’s how to get along with people we really don’t like, or the uncertainty people can feel around those who would historically do them wrong. She doesn’t shy away from using words that make people gasp. Yes, those words. They existed. She puts them the exact right spot to make the impact needed and then continues.
Rita Woods creates a magical thrilling adventure in her book “Remembrance”. In the days before the civil war a town, out of time, out of reach for those meaning harm to others was there. A place freedom existed for those under the tyranny of slavery or needing a home when none existed for them.
The book examines the lives of four women and their abilities to change the lives of many, now and those maybe to come. In a time of dire need for help, they answer, but does what they posses really enough to save all that needs saving?
Remembrance was an exciting read! A genre I love, historical fiction, combined with glimpses of the future and looks back to a past that was an upheaval of lives that ended in torment and loss. But Woods puts a fictional turn in the happenings of time past that brings out a shinning hope for the characters in her book. And perhaps that shinning light extends to the future?
Picking up this book and reading it will give you more than time spent reading a good book, it will make your think of magical possibilities of “what ifs” and how they could have changed history and inspire the future!
Ok.. so this book is a little different from what I normally read.
This story is about several different black women. Gaelle, Margot, Abigail, and Winter. It takes you through different periods in time, starting with Gaelle, a woman from present day Haiti that is now living in Cleveland, Ohio. Margot a slave girl in 1857, who in the beginning lives with her Grandmother and sister in Louisiana. Abigail, also a slave, who is forces to leave her home and children of Haiti, with her mistress to Louisiana in 1791. Then Winter, who is a girl saved by Abigail. This story takes you through the past, slaves fleeing, searching for their freedom. The women’s lives are connected.
What can I say about this book. It was incredible. It was beautifully written, the characters were real, and you felt for them. It was heartbreaking as well. The things these women go through and have gone through. The loss, and fear. It was definitely a story that pulls you in, and you don’t want to stop reading. This was a different read for me. Most of the story was set in pre-civil war America. And there are instances of slaves being treated horribly (The easiest way to put it). The characters showed bravery, and courage, and the will to survive. I loved this book. And the story. The author is an amazing storyteller. The one thing about this book I’m lost in is the ending. The way it ends, I just didn’t understand it. The ending was good, I just felt there could have been more. But that’s the only thing, the book is amazing.
I struggled a bit with this story, trying to keep the three timelines straight. There were a lot of characters to keep track out. As a result, I never felt a connection to any of the characters, except perhaps a bit with Abigail because of the horrors she encountered and her role throughout the rest of the story. This book is a blend of historical fiction and the supernatural, which makes perfect sense with the Haiti and New Orleans settings. I thought the present-day portion of the book was the weakest part. I understand the purpose of that portion, but it was weakly developed, unlike the other two portions.
It isn’t until a little over 100 pages into the story when it is revealed that Remembrance is a place – a sanctuary for blacks who have escaped slavery. It was at this point that I really became interested in the story.
I look forward to reading more by Rita Woods. If you are a fan of Octavia Butler (I certainly am), I think you will enjoy this book.
I received an Advance Reading Copy of “Remembrance” from the Forge, the publisher (Forge). All opinions expressed here are solely mine.
Remembrance is an amazing debut novel that is told in multiple timelines and narratives that has a magical and fantastical twist. I enjoyed reading about this complex story that is weaved seamlessly. Rita Woods’ writing was complex with multiple plot lines and her writing was meaningful and deep. Her creativity and gripping story really caught my attention and interest. Addressed in the story were themes such as slavery, colonialism and racism. Though laws have been passed to end slavery, we know that it still permeated society in many levels many years after. Slavery in different forms continued as part of our country’s blemished past. I am grateful to have read this book by #ownvoices author and highlighted strong women, each with their own narrative. Wood never shied from asking questions, and delivered through this novel, a powerful read. I highly recommend this book.
This was so amazing! I was expecting a historical fiction about the Underground Railroad, and I got that, as well as so much more! From beginning to end I was completely hooked on this book! What an amazing storyline, as well as amazing characters, and just enough magic to make it mystical. I loved every second!
Wins:
-the characters were so strong! Winter, Abigail, Margot, and Gayelle were an amazing cast of main characters that I found myself attached to instantly, as well as heartbroken over as their stories continues.
Along with this is the supporting characters. Dix has the best character arch that I wasn’t expecting , Petal is absolutely amazing, and David Henry is a hunky hero that I loved.
-the heartbreak. This does have to do with slavery, and with that there is a lot of torture, as well as death that everyone goes through, and you get to see a firsthand account of it all, it breaks your heart, but those characters reactions are so memorable!
-the storyline. Such a good storyline. I loved the magic in this, as well as the spirits, and I tore through it, and had a hard time putting it down
Opportunities
-Margot. I loved her so much in the beginning, but she had such a weak arch that by the end I didn’t really care where she ended up, she did by far have the best magic, but i feel like I saw it the least.
-I want more Gayelle! As a former cna, I loved her storyline, I felt so bad for her, but I absolutely loved her progression and her ending, just wish we had more of her in the book
-I don’t have much more. There were some graphic parts, that’s my only real disclosure
All in all, I was not ready for this book. It was so different than what I was expecting in honestly the best way! I genuinely hope we get a continuance, even though I doubt we will. I will definitely keep my eyes out for Rita woods, because I loved this so much!