Under The Tulip Tree My Rating: 4.9
Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland’s dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena’s banker father has retreated into the bottle, her sister is married to a lazy charlatan and gambler, and Rena is an unemployed newspaper reporter. Eager for any writing job, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers’ Project. There, she meets Frankie Washington, a 101-year-old woman whose honest yet tragic past captivates Rena.
As Frankie recounts her life as a slave, Rena is horrified to learn of all the older woman has endured—especially because Rena’s ancestors owned slaves. While Frankie’s story challenges Rena’s preconceptions about slavery, it also connects the two women whose lives are otherwise separated by age, race, and circumstances. But will this bond of respect, admiration, and friendship be broken by a revelation neither woman sees coming?
I truly enjoyed this book. Having grown up knowing the atrocities of slavery, I had never really considered how the generations immediately following it might have processed that history—or even tried to deny or rewrite it. This story made me stop and think about what it must have been like to live in a time when “we don’t talk about things,” when neighbors’ opinions carried enormous weight, and when the uncertainty of the stock market crash hung over daily life.
What impressed me most was how beautifully the author brought together these different layers of history and perspective. The book doesn’t just tell one story—it gives voice to multiple generations grappling with truth, silence, and identity. It felt very authentic, and the narrative was both moving and eye-opening.
This is one of those novels that lingers long after the final page, because it makes you think about how stories get told—and how many more still need to be heard. I will definitely read more by this author.
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