The Last Thing You Surrender by Leonard Pitts Jr.

Similar books

1 of 6

Open book
Daughters of the stone
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
2009 · 323 pages · 1 review
Others: Positive
A tale spanning five generations of a family of African-Puerto Rican women finds mute seamstress Fela working in colonial Puerto Rico and drawing on her tribal beliefs to enable the birth of a daughter who becomes a powerful curandera.
Why?
What made the match, strongest first
Also historical fiction
86%
Brown Girl Reading loved both
14%
Personalize your recommendations
Open book
Family
J. California Cooper
1991 · 231 pages · 1 review
Others: Positive
In this wise, beguiling, beautiful novel set in the era of the Civil War, an award-winning playwright and author paints a haunting portrait of a woman named Always, born a slave, and four generations of her African-American family. A slave mother, distraught that her children, sired by her master, might be sold away from her, attempts to poison them all.
Why?
What made the match, strongest first
Also historical fiction
86%
Brown Girl Reading loved both
14%
Personalize your recommendations
Open book
Freeman
Leonard Pitts
2012 · 404 pages · 1 review
Others: Positive
""At the end of the Civil War, an escaped slave first returns to his old plantation and then walks across the ravaged South in search of his lost wife"--Provided by the publisher"--
Why?
What made the match, strongest first
Also historical fiction
86%
Brown Girl Reading loved both
14%
Personalize your recommendations
Open book
Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet
Jamie Ford
2009 · 290 pages · 1 review
Others: Positive
"Sentimental, heartfelt....the exploration of Henry's changing relationship with his family and with Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don't repeat those injustices."-- Kirkus Reviews"A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war--not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today's world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel." -- Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain"Jamie Ford's first novel explores the age-old conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japanese Americans in the Seattle area during World War II, and the depths and longing of deep-heart love. An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut."-- Lisa See, bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret FanIn the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship--and innocent love--that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel's dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice--words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago. Set during one of the most conflicted and volatile times in American history, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is an extraordinary story of commitment and enduring hope. In Henry and Keiko, Jamie Ford has created an unforgettable duo whose story teaches us of the power of forgiveness and the human heart.From the Hardcover edition.
Why?
What made the match, strongest first
Also historical fiction
86%
Brown Girl Reading loved both
14%
Personalize your recommendations
Open book
House of Stone
Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
2018 · 400 pages · 2 reviews
Others: Positive
In the chronic turmoil of modern Zimbabwe, Abednego and Agnes Mlambo's teenage son, Bukhosi, has gone missing, and the Mlambos fear the worst. Their enigmatic lodger, Zamani, seems too helpful in the search, ingratiating himself into their lives, knowing that the one who controls the narrative inherits the future.
Why?
What made the match, strongest first
Also historical fiction
86%
Brown Girl Reading loved both
14%
Personalize your recommendations
Open book
In the shadow of the banyan
Vaddey Ratner
2012 · 368 pages · 1 review
Others: Positive
Told from the tender perspective of a young girl who comes of age amid the Cambodian killing fields, this novel is based on the author's personal story. For seven-year-old Raami, the shattering end of childhood begins with the footsteps of her father returning home in the early dawn hours bringing details of the civil war that has overwhelmed the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital. Soon the family's world of carefully guarded royal privilege is swept up in the chaos of revolution and forced exodus. Over the next four years, as she endures the deaths of family members, starvation, and brutal forced labor, Raami clings to the only remaining vestige of childhood, the mythical legends and poems told to her by her father. In a climate of systematic violence where memory is sickness and justification for execution, Raami fights for her improbable survival.
Why?
What made the match, strongest first
Also historical fiction
86%
Brown Girl Reading loved both
14%
Personalize your recommendations