Grace

A Novel

By: Natashia Deón

Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts

For a runaway slave in the 1840s South, life on the run can be just as dangerous as life under a sadistic master. That's what 15-year-old Naomi learns after she escapes the brutal confines of life on an Alabama plantation. Striking out on her own, she leaves behind her beloved Momma and sister, Hazel, and takes refuge in a Georgia brothel run by a freewheeling, gun-toting Jewish madam named Cynthia. There, amid a revolving door of gamblers, prostitutes, and drunks, Naomi falls into a star-crossed love affair with a smooth-talking white man named Jeremy who frequents the brothel's dice tables all too often.

The product of Naomi and Jeremy's union is Josey, whose white skin and blonde hair mark her as different from the other slave children on the plantation. Having been taken in as an infant by a free slave named Charles, Josey has never known her mother, who was murdered at her birth. Josey soon becomes caught in the tide of history when news of the Emancipation Proclamation reaches the declining estate, and a day of supposed freedom quickly turns into a day of unfathomable violence that will define Josey - and her lost mother - for years to come.

Deftly weaving together the stories of Josey and Naomi - who narrates the entire novel, unable to leave her daughter alone in the land of the living - Grace is a sweeping, intergenerational saga featuring a group of outcast women during one of the most compelling eras in American history. It is a universal story of freedom, love, and motherhood told in a dazzling and original voice and set against a rich and transporting historical backdrop.

©2016 Natashia Deón (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The conceit of a narrator speaking from the grave has been done before, but rarely has it been as emotionally wrenching as in Natashia Deón's mesmerizing debut novel.... [Narrator Lisa Renée] Pitts reveals lives filled with humiliation, dehumanization, and hopelessness. She presents Deón's characters and unrelenting images truthfully, exposing how little women, particularly African-American women, were valued in this time period." ( AudioFile)

Fantastic novel

The narrator really brought this character to life. The plot was intriguing, and the story was captivating. I need to buy the hard copy of this book for my collection. This book feeds your soul.

Confused

Maybe I was too involve with the White House shenanigans but I just couldn't stay focused on the story. And the author is telling a story around two close time periods in just as many lives. I think.

I'll try in again some other time.

WOW

amazing story!! very visual and engrossing. I thought about the characters in between the times when I wasn't listening. I thoroughly enjoyed the parallel time frames.

Great

5 stars for me, a very good, will read more of books, I needed more to the ending of the though

Amazing Book.

Loved this book, the ending gave me goose bumps and I hated for it to end. So much to think about and get your head around. Narration was 100 % spot on.

AWESOME!

i srarted off being very confused....I quickly realized why the story was told that way. The narrator is awesome....EXCELLENT BOOK!!

suspenseful

very captivating from start to finish, the narrator is a A+ for me, easy to follow I reccomend a 100%.

This book is amazing!

I love the story! It’s not your regular novel. Must read! I didn’t want it to end.

Kudos to Lisa Renée Pitts

This novel tells a captivating story, and Lisa Renée Pitts is the perfect narrator to tell it. I hung on her every word, and eagerly followed every twist and turn. It is among my favorite novels and performances, and I will likely read again.

I am surprised...

I enjoyed this book a lot and I am surprised by that. The fact that it jumped back and forth from past to current, half me worried in through beginning. However it was very easy to keep up with. Enjoyed it , yes I did.