The Undertaker's Assistant (Review)
My Review
This one is different than your usual Civil War book. Set during Reconstruction-era New Orleans, the cast of characters especially Effie Jones, a former slave who escaped to the Union side as a child will make you sit up and take notice .
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. Things that are just not the norm for women and especially women of this time period Effie is not afraid to get involved in and becomes an undertakers assistant.
She returns south as a free woman to New Orleans and becomes an embalmer, her skills make up for the lack of competence of her employer. Despite the difficulties Effie faces in her life she shows a quite
and unmatched inner strength no one can fault
. Deals with racial turmoil, uncertainty revolving her relationships with state legislator Samson Greene, and a beautiful young Creole, Adeline. There is a goal to all of this as suppressed memories all come back to her at the end despite trying to block it as she tries to seek out her kin.
Quite the unexpected ending I just didn't see it coming. A must read, this historical kept me memorized through out as I turned the pages.
The author has a captivating writing style. Published July 30th 2019 by Kensington Publishing Corporation I was given a complimentary copy. Thank you. All opinions expressed are my own.
GoodReads Summary
Set during Reconstruction-era New Orleans, and with an extraordinary and unforgettable heroine at its heart, The Undertaker's Assistantis a powerful story of human resilience--and of the unlikely bonds that hold fast even in our darkest moments. "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 . . .
About The Author
Website
Genre
Historical Fiction
Member Since
April 2012
URL
Amanda is the author of BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY, winner of the American Library Association's 2019 Reading List Award for Best Historical Fiction, and THE UNDERTAKER'S ASSISTANT, coming from Kensington in July 2019. She grew up in the mountains of Colorado and sang and danced her way through 68 cities on both sides of the Atlantic with the service organization Up with People before starting college. Her love of historical fiction started early with the stories of Kenneth Thomasma, Mark Twain, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. When she’s not writing, Amanda works as an infection prevention nurse. She lives in Las Vegas with her husband and their pet turtle Lenore.
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