Recommended Reading: "Under the Tulip Tree" by Michele Shocklee

 

She poured hot water from a kettle sitting on the stovetop into a plain white cup with a tea ball. Taking a pale-blue saucer from the open shelf that held short stacks of mismatched dishes, she set the cup on it and handed it to me. “You take sugar?”

— From Under the Tulip Tree by Michelle Shocklee

I just finished reading a great book with my online book group, and while the tea quote above was quite a serendipitous find, I enjoyed this historical fiction book so much that I wanted to tell you about it!

The story begins on the day of the stock market crash in 1929, which also happens to be Lorena Leland's sixteenth birthday. The daughter of a well-to-do Nashville banker and his society-loving wife, Rena is about to be feted at a lavish party, but the day's events turn not only the party but her whole life upside-down. Fast-forward seven years, and dad is a binge-drinker, mom has had to go to work, Rena's older sister is a new mother with a cheating husband, and life hasn't turned out the way any of them thought it would. Rena had gotten a job with the local newspaper but is let go during the hard times. Her old boss suggests she apply for a job with a new Federal Writers’ Project he's heard about, and she's intrigued by the opportunity, which calls for interviewing former slaves, who are now getting on in age.

A nervous Rena shows up at the house of Frances "Frankie" Washington, and neither woman is what the other expects. Despite being 101, Frankie is still quite sharp, and she slowly begins to trust Rena and reveal her story. The tale is hard to read at times, as a tale about slaves certainly should be, yet the author handles it deftly, mainly in a series of flashbacks told in Frankie's own voice.

While Rena ends up interviewing others in the course of her new job, Frankie's is the story she can't get out of her head, and many more trips to Frankie's house ensue. The story unfolds like a mystery, and the author does a fine job of resolving all the plot lines before the book comes to an end. It's hard to imagine writing about such a horrible topic and ending up with a book brimming with hope and inspiration, but Shocklee pulls it off. If you're looking for a worthy new book to read, I'm happy to recommend this one.