Edward A. Farmer

3.5 Pain, revenge and rascism. It is the 1960s, and Bernice, a black woman whose husband has disappears, joins her brother to serve on the Kerns cotton plantation. In Mississippi, though slavery is no more, blacks are anything but equal. All is not well on the plantation, strained relationships, secrets and insidious plots of revenge plague the characters. Though they are considered servants, are they in charge of their own destiny or is servitude just another name for slavery?

A debut novel, well written and showing us a different time period and how little by that time had been gained. There are other ways to apply chains as this book shows, and though free choices are still narrow. The characters are each very different, have different motivations, but there lives are tangled together by circumstances beyond their control. At least for the most part. The Kern plantation is not a happy place and secrets are revealed to the very end. A slower paced book but an interesting read set in a time period in the deep South that hasn't been widely written. At least I haven't read many. The ending was perfect, in my view.

ARC from Edelweiss.… (plus d'informations)

Title: Pale
Author: Edward Farmer
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:

"Pale" by Edward Farmer

My Speculation:

I found 'Pale' quite an engaging read where we find Bernice going to live with her brother, Floyd, in the 1960s in Mississippi, who worked on a cotton plantation. What a story of how this Missus was one very deceptive, petty, and vindictive person that caused all kinds of trouble for everyone, which included her husband. Yes, what she was trying to do was to soothe her wounds. What will turn out from all of this is after the Missus dies, there will be more secrets and lies of the family that worked for them will come out. Be ready for a story of where "there is a thin line between servant and slave and how revengeful choices can define and change lives for generations." I will say this was quite a sad story even at the end of what happened.

I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of this book.… (plus d'informations)