A review by cmucce01
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles

5.0

I was skeptical that a historian could turn ten lines stitched onto a sack into a compelling narrative but here we are. Ashley’s sack is filled with a mother’s love, and though the specifics are sparse Miles is able to draw on contemporaneous accounts, textile history, and even discussion of the geography of Charleston and surrounding areas to describe the things Rose and Ashley may have experienced leading up to Ashley’s sale away from her mother at age 9. I’m also amazed that a book centered on such a heartbreaking personal moment and such a dark historical moment manages to be so uplifting and heartfelt — this is a story about love and survival against all odds, for Ashley and for her sack, discovered in a thrift store bin in Tennessee nearly 150 years after Ashley was sold. The book is full of speculation — after all, how much can one do with only ten lines? — but it never feels far-fetched or inaccurate. I loved everything about it.