STORY SUMMARY
In the Southern newspapers after the Civil War, advertisements titled "Lost Friends" would appear because some of the newly freed slaves were desperate to find their loved ones who had been sold away to other people.
It's Louisiana 1845: It's the era known as Reconstruction and it was a very tumultuous time. Three young women are on a risky quest. They are: Hannie, a black freed slave; Missy Lavinia, a pampered heir to a poor plantation; Juneau Jane, who was Lavinia's half-sister and half Creole.
All three girls are young teens. And they all have wounds....deep wounds and powerful secrets. They are heading to Texas and the roads on the way are filled with vigilantes and soldiers who are still fighting a war that they had lost a decade earlier.
Lavinia and Juneau Jane are actually on a journey of stolen inheritance and financial desperation. Hannie, who was torn from her mama and other siblings when she was just 6 years old right before the end of slavery, this journey is bringing up a question that has plagued her for years: Is her long-lost family still out there? Beyond the swamps is the frontier of Texas....and....hope...and danger.
Will Hannie ever find her family?
Meanwhile: It is Louisiana 1987-1988 and brand new, young teacher Benny Silva has landed a high school English teaching job to the very poor community of Augustine. It seems like the perfect job to cancel her high student loan debt...because it's a poor, rural school the job is subsidized so will cancel out her debt as long as she remains there for 3 years. But this town is very suspicious of new ideas and new people. She has a difficult time understanding the abject poverty she sees all around her in the eyes of her students. But.....when they all love the idea of a project they label "Tales of the Underground", the students begin to enjoy school and Ms Silva. And of course...their research leads to the discovery of "the book of Lost Friends" and the friendship of Nathan Gossett. What will they discover about the Gossett plantation and Nathan's ancestors??
MY THOUGHTS
Well, this book was just plain amazing. Wingate has done it again with a marvelous look at a piece of history that is quite shameful for white Americans to learn about. It's an important piece of history.
The setting, characters, and back stories are very well developed. Each chapter is either set in 1987 or 1875. The way the author does this, though, is not confusing. Each chapter has the voice and setting listed. For example: Chapter 1: Hannie Gossett, Louisiana, 1875.
This story is actually two different plots: the journey of Hannie, Lavinia (aka Missy) and Juneau Jane; and Benny/Nathan and a few of her students (Lajuna, Lil Ray). I fell in love with Hannie and Juneau Jane. I also really admired the spunk and grit of Lajuna and also the persistence of Benny despite the odds and hatred of the townfolk.
This is a look at a piece of post Civil War history that I had never known. There were really advertisements taken out in a southern newspaper called the Southwestern Christian Advocate, a Methodist newspaper that went out to about 500 preachers, 800 post offices, and more than 4000 subscription holders. A statement by the author from her notes in the back reads:
"The Lost Friends advertisements were the equivalent of an ingenious 19th century social media platform, a means of reaching the hinterlands of a divided, troubled, and fractious country still struggling to find itself in the aftermath of war." (pg 378, The Book of Lost Friends, by Lisa Wingate, c.2020)
This piece of history should be in every high school American history book. I'm guessing it still isn't. I knew that when I took American History in 1976-1977 it definitely was not included in my small northeastern, central NY village school curriculum.
I teared up at so many different scenes in this book. It's a powerful look at a time when some people were treated as "less than". Made me get chills at times.
This book is also a powerful look at survival, bravery, persistence, friendship, truth, and racial issues.
There were several great quotes from this story and here are a few of my favorites:
"Just because we're not always happy with what's true doesn't mean we shouldn't know it. It's how we learn. It's how we do better in the future. Hopefully, anyway." (pg 221)
"Stories change people. History, real history, helps people understand each other., see each other from the inside out." (pg 308)
"Augustine has taught me that the past travels with you. It's whether you run from it or learn from it that makes all the difference." (pg 339)
"The greatest hardship to the heart is to endlessly wonder about your people." (pg 368)
The only thing that threw me for a loop with this book is how she introduced something into Benny's life at the very end that made it seem like we, the reader, should have known this or had an inkling of it, but yet I read this book word for word and didn't expect this last secret that came out. I won't go into what it was.....but...it was a little odd to me, although it fit in nicely with the theme.
I found no editing errors in this book! Most unusual for a contemporary author!
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.
1 comment:
Sounds like an excellent book. Wingate is a good writer. Thanks for the review!
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