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A review by probablyjenna
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
5.0
It’s hard for me to know how best to describe River Sing Me Home. The first word that comes to mind is gentle, but the story itself isn’t gentle at all - how could it be? From the very first page we’re brought into the horrific reality of slavery in mid 1800s Barbados. Despite an announcement declaring slavery has ended, nothing has changed: enslaved people are now apprentices, not allowed to leave or earn a wage or do anything a freed person should be able to do.
So our lovely protagonist, Rachel, does something incredibly brave and incredibly scary: she leaves. Through her pages, we learn that she has five living children who were all taken from her, scattered around different countries, & she is now on a quest to find them.
Gentle is not true of the plot, but the beautiful thing about this book is that its focus is so firmly settled on the characters - and these characters shine upon one another, while also sending their light right off the page. River Sing Me Home is a beautiful story about the human beings impacted by the institution of slavery, yet dwells not on emphasizing that pain but rather highlighting the resilient communities that grew from it. This is a story about motherhood, family, and sacrifice - the willingness to walk a dangerous path in order to see that all of the pieces of your life have safely found a place.
Eleanor Shearer has created a masterpiece, and I cannot recommend this one highly enough. It’s short, but deeply moving. The rich descriptions will stay with you; the love of the characters will warm you.
So our lovely protagonist, Rachel, does something incredibly brave and incredibly scary: she leaves. Through her pages, we learn that she has five living children who were all taken from her, scattered around different countries, & she is now on a quest to find them.
Gentle is not true of the plot, but the beautiful thing about this book is that its focus is so firmly settled on the characters - and these characters shine upon one another, while also sending their light right off the page. River Sing Me Home is a beautiful story about the human beings impacted by the institution of slavery, yet dwells not on emphasizing that pain but rather highlighting the resilient communities that grew from it. This is a story about motherhood, family, and sacrifice - the willingness to walk a dangerous path in order to see that all of the pieces of your life have safely found a place.
Eleanor Shearer has created a masterpiece, and I cannot recommend this one highly enough. It’s short, but deeply moving. The rich descriptions will stay with you; the love of the characters will warm you.