Absalom's Daughters

May 9, 2016
Feldman’s resonant and engrossing debut is a tale of sisterly adventure set in 1950s Mississippi. The book breathes new life into the road trip story both with its inclusion of magical realism and with its memorable pairing of two teenagers—Cassie, who’s black, and Judith, who’s white—who have recently discovered that they have the same father. When Judith finds a letter explaining that they may be heirs to a rumored family fortune, she decides it’s her chance to get enough money to run off to New York City to be a singer. And Cassie, who’s destined to be matched with a white man by her black relatives, who are trying to whiten their family with each new generation of biracial offspring, realizes this may be her only opportunity to escape. They steal a car, and with a ham, a gun, and a map so old that state lines are blurred, they head north. Feldman’s novel is about how even the sweetness of sisterhood isn’t immune to poisonous racial dynamics. This warm story with two endearing leads offers a new frame of understanding for what it means to seek freedom, and what the seeker must give up in exchange. Agent Lisa Grubka, Fletcher & Co.

Starred review from May 1, 2016
When Cassie and Judith catch wind that their runaway father is set to inherit a passel of money in far-off Virginia, they take off to claim their share. Cassie and Judith are half sisters in Heron-Neck, Mississippi, in the early 1950s. Cassie is black and Judith is white, and they're both poor: Cassie works alongside her mother and grandmother in their family-owned laundry, while Judith helps her own mother deliver that laundry to the wealthy white mansions up the hill. Their father is Bill Forrest, but he's a nonentity: he's run off, and it's only by way of a mysterious letter that arrives from Virginia that the girls learn he's gone to claim his inheritance. Judith, who dreams of becoming a radio star in New York City, convinces Cassie that they should find their father, prove themselves as his progeny, and claim their share of the money. Then they take off in an old, broken-down junk car. This is the debut novel from Feldman, and it's a magnificent one. Her work is reminiscent of both William Faulkner and Toni Morrison, but her voice is entirely her own and utterly original. Feldman's prose blisters and pops with sparks. Cassie's grandmother tells her to be wary of Judith: "no matter how twice related you are, she's no kin to you," she warns. "Kin has a feeling for how far back the blood goes....She'll never have that feeling for you." But there is a tart sweetness to Judith and Cassie's interactions. In this novel, most things are not as they seem, and Feldman doesn't hew too close to reality. The sisters encounter mules who were once men, discover towns that appear in one place on the map and another on the road, and Cassie even spends a few days as a white girl. Eventually she decides to return to the skin she was born with; as a mysterious woman tells her near the end: "What's important is the past." A searing and magical debut by a monumental new talent.

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September 1, 2016

In this nod to Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!, Cassie, a light-skinned African American girl, and her white half-sister, Judith, could easily be Absalom's daughters. Both girls, uneducated and dirt-poor, live in a small town in 1950s Mississippi. Though born to the same white father and different mothers, the girls did not know of their relationship until their father abandoned Judith and her mother, forcing Judith to make deliveries to Cassie's family laundry. Judith has a powerful singing voice and dreams of becoming a singer on the radio, and Cassie struggles with a grandmother who schemes to arrange her marriage. When a letter arrives from a distant relative suggesting the girls may be in line for an inheritance if they arrive in Remington, VA, by a specified date, Judith is determined to go: fame awaits. With her mother's blessing, Cassie leaves to avoid her grandmother's plan. Escaping in an old junk car, they head north on a road trip, encountering kindness and hostility. The girls are given the opportunity to look forward in their lives, and arriving at their destination provides some answers and allows each young woman to create her own future. The use of the derogatory term for African Americans may offend some teen readers, but it is contextual and well within the culture of its time. Thematically, it helps to explain Cassie's thoughts about herself and her feelings about being a young woman of color. VERDICT Ideal for fans of historical fiction and those interested in learning more about the grim realities of Jim Crow and the harshness of poverty in the 1950s.-Connie Williams, Petaluma High School, CA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2016
In 1950s Mississippi, half-black, half-white Cassie works for her grandmother, a woman who orchestrates the births in her family so that her descendants can, one day, pass for white. Intelligent, hardworking, but directionless, Cassie befriends her fully white half sister, Judith, a compulsive liar who dreams of becoming a radio star. When they discover that their deadbeat dad will inherit money, they embark on a road trip to get their due from the man who abandoned them. As the teenagers meet people warm and hostile during their travels, they experience the elation of freedom and the constrictions of racism. Although one crucial supernatural chapter in Feldman's ambitious debut may deter those who prefer straight historical fiction, open-minded readers will appreciate how this unusual opportunity allows Cassie to decide who she wants to be and how she wants to live her life. Feldman's quick read will appeal to Faulkner fans with its references to Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and to all who will be intrigued by how two girls discover their true identities in a place determined to limit their options.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

February 15, 2016

Winner of the Missouri Review Editors' Prize, Feldman introduces us to self-educated African American Cassie and her starry-eyed white half-sister, Judith, who take a road trip through the 1950s Jim Crow South to collect an inheritance from their father. Big in-house enthusiasm for this author.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.