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A review by cat_book_lady
Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
4.0
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - an excellent up-and-coming writer! To be a black slave woman, torn apart from her own baby in order to be a wet nurse for the plantation's owner, had to be completely heartbreaking, but Mattie cares for this white child Lisabeth that she grows to love. It is hard to believe that nursing your own baby was considered obscene and disgusting for the likes of polite society, but there it is. Ibrahim also does a great job in showing how the owners thought they were doing the slaves an actual favor by protecting and caring for their needs.
I am proud of the white girl Lisabeth who grows into a fine young woman, looking for a good man rather than a good husband and eventually becomes an abolitionist in Ohio after her previous fiance was caught having forced "relations" with a slave girl. This opens her eyes from the naive little girl to seeing the complete injustice surrounding her. While I think this event was indeed horrifying, I'm not sure if it would stem her uprooting her life completely in a day, but since this is based on a true story, I would say that she must have been extremely shook up. She courageously chooses to shed her comfortable, well-to-do life with her family for the uncertainty of a new state, new political system, new husband whom she barely knows, and new perspective on the world.
The novel is intensely satisfying, and another tale of the injustices slaves suffered from a wholly different perspective. If not for a couple of scenes, I would say this would make for an excellent book for junior high and high schoolers to read (though one scene is probably necessary for the plot). But as an adult, I recommend it highly.
I am proud of the white girl Lisabeth who grows into a fine young woman, looking for a good man rather than a good husband and eventually becomes an abolitionist in Ohio after her previous fiance was caught having forced "relations" with a slave girl. This opens her eyes from the naive little girl to seeing the complete injustice surrounding her. While I think this event was indeed horrifying, I'm not sure if it would stem her uprooting her life completely in a day, but since this is based on a true story, I would say that she must have been extremely shook up. She courageously chooses to shed her comfortable, well-to-do life with her family for the uncertainty of a new state, new political system, new husband whom she barely knows, and new perspective on the world.
The novel is intensely satisfying, and another tale of the injustices slaves suffered from a wholly different perspective. If not for a couple of scenes, I would say this would make for an excellent book for junior high and high schoolers to read (though one scene is probably necessary for the plot). But as an adult, I recommend it highly.