I love a good natural disaster. When I was in college studying to be a broadcaster, I took many meteorology classes because of how fascinating I found hurricanes, tsunamis, and tornados. How they came on so suddenly and the damage left in their wake. When I first read the premise for Promise, I couldn’t wait to read the story.
Author Minrose Gwin grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, the site of an F5 tornado in 1936, one that leveled half the town. It’s on record as the fourth deadliest in the history of the United States. What fascinated me was that even then, they didn’t count African-Americans in the total death or injured count, basically erasing them from history.
While this story is fictional, it’s based in fact and follows two protagonists, Dovey, an African-American great-grandmother and washwoman, and Jo, a white teenage girl trying to find her place in her family. As the tornado destroys their homes, they realize they might be connected by more than just tragedy.
Faced with tremendous loss, both women need to be strong in piecing their lives back together. But racial tension in this town is thick, even after everything that’s happened.
Fans of The Help and Calling Me Home will find much to love in this novel. The writing is beautiful, yet propels the narrative along. Even though the story takes place over a few days, I felt like I had spent years with these families.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About the author: Minrose Gwin is the author of The Queen of Palmyra. She has written three scholarly books, coedited The Literature of the American South, and teaches contemporary fiction at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.
Thanks to the publisher, I have one copy to give away to a lucky reader. U.S. and Canada only, please. Enter on the Rafflecopter.
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About the author: SALLY HEPWORTH is a human resource professional. A graduate of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, Sally started writing novels after the birth of her first child. Sally has lived around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the UK, and Canada, and she now writes full-time from her home in Melbourne, where she lives with her husband and three young children. She is the author of The Secrets of Midwives, The Things We Keep, and The Mother’s Promise.
About Christina Baker Kline
About the author: Born and raised in Hawaii, Sara studied journalism and earned graduate degrees in psychology and Chinese medicine. When she’s not writing or practicing acupuncture, you’ll find her in the mountains or in the ocean.
About the author: RHIANNON NAVIN grew up in Bremen, Germany, in a family of book-crazy women. Her career in advertising brought her to New York City, where she worked for several large agencies before becoming a full-time mother and writer. She now lives outside of New York City with her husband, three children, and two cats. This is her first novel.
About the author: Paula Treick DeBoard lives with her husband Will and their four-legged brood in Modesto, CA. She received a BA in English from Dordt College, an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine and a practical education from countless students in her English classes over the years. She is the author of The Mourning Hours, The Fragile World and The Drowning Girls.
About the author: Patricia Perry Donovan is an American journalist who writes about healthcare. Her fiction has appeared at Gravel Literary, Flash Fiction Magazine, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable and in other literary journals. The mother of two grown daughters, she lives at the Jersey shore with her husband, with whom she has fond memories of raising their young family abroad in France. Learn more at www.patriciaperrydonovan.com
About the author: I write novels that have a mixture of Love, Mystery, Adventure and overcoming adversity. My influencers include writers such as Karen Swan, Sidney Sheldon & Enid Blyton.
