You can use your Minuteman Library Network card to borrow titles from these partner libraries:
The Undertaker's Assistant
A Captivating Post-Civil War Era Novel of Southern Historical Fiction
1 of 2 copies available
"The dead can't hurt you. Only the living can." Effie Jones, a former slave who escaped to the Union side as a child, knows the truth of her words. Taken in by an army surgeon and his wife during the War, she learned to read and write, to tolerate the sight of blood and broken bodies—and to forget what is too painful to bear. Now a young freedwoman, she has returned south to New Orleans and earns her living as an embalmer, her steady hand and skillful incisions compensating for her white employer's shortcomings.
Tall and serious, Effie keeps her distance from the other girls in her boarding house, holding tight to the satisfaction she finds in her work. But despite her reticence, two encounters—with a charismatic state legislator named Samson Greene, and a beautiful young Creole, Adeline—introduce her to new worlds of protests and activism, of soirees and social ambition. Effie decides to seek out the past she has blocked from her memory and try to trace her kin. As her hopes are tested by betrayal, and New Orleans grapples with violence and growing racial turmoil, Effie faces loss and heartache, but also a chance to finally find her place . . .
-
Creators
-
Publisher
-
Release date
July 30, 2019 -
Formats
-
Kindle Book
-
OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781496713698
-
EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781496713698
- File size: 3492 KB
-
-
Languages
- English
-
Reviews
-
July 1, 2019
Euphemia "Effie" Jones, born into slavery in Louisiana, escaped as a child and became the ward of a well-known white surgeon from Indiana. While serving as the surgeon's assistant during the Civil War, she became a skilled undertaker and embalmer, then after the Civil War moved to New Orleans to be an embalmer for a local undertaker and reconnect with her past. In New Orleans, Effie, staunchly practical, forms an unlikely friendship with Adeline, a charming and elegant Creole woman, who introduces Effie to local society. Effie falls for Samson Greene, a freedman and state politician, and begins participating in local political events and clubs organized by Samson. As Effie forms relationships and settles in New Orleans, she begins to remember key moments in her traumatic past. Set in a time of sweeping historical change, Effie's story is one of personal growth, self-discovery, friendship, and betrayal. VERDICT Effie's community of freedmen and Creoles in Reconstruction New Orleans is unforgettable. Skenandore's second novel (after Between Earth and Sky) is recommended for readers who enjoy medical historical fiction reminiscent of Diane McKinney-Whetstone's Lazaretto, and historical fiction with interpersonal drama.--Emily Hamstra, Seattle
Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
-