A review by christygoldsmith
Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

5.0

This book was so beautiful that it singlehandedly kicked me out of my book funk. It's this perfect a mix of brilliant authorial moves including unreliable narration and clever foreshadowing that made me gasp aloud. I think that if I had kids, the main storyline would've hit me even harder. As it were, the book was a rumination on the choices we are--and aren't--granted by nature of our race, class, gender, and contexts. I loved that, while Libertie was set in the Civil War era, it was not a book about the Civil War. It was not (mostly) about Black trauma and enslavement. It was about the vastness of the Black experience and of the African Diaspora. Highly recommend.

Though she didn't have much dialogue, Lenore was my favorite character. As Libertie says, "Lenore, God bless her, could see petty a mile away." We stan.