Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Opening in Philadelphia on the eve of Lincoln's assassination and ending over two decades later, McKinney-Whetstone's (Trading Dreams at Midnight, 2008) vibrant historical novel traces the lives of several intertwined families as they navigate the early years of Reconstruction. A young, black servant arrives at the midwife's too late for the abortion her white employer, the father of the child, had hoped for. She is told the baby died, but the midwife's assistant secretly spirits the infant boy away to a nearby orphanage, where another boy soon arrives. The two are raised as brothers, the bond between them growing ever stronger over the years as they endure mistreatment by both white superiors and blacks fueled by jealousy of their near-white appearance. The scene then shifts to Lazaretto, a hospital on an island near Philadelphia, where immigrants are quarantined. Mourning the loss of their surrogate mother and fleeing the wrath of the family of a man who abused them, the brothers reunite in the final pages of this latest of McKinney-Whetstone's completely engaging novels, a unique blend of poetic language and graphic depictions of the injustices suffered by African Americans in the post-Civil War period.--Donovan, Deborah Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Setting her book once again in her native city of Philadelphia, Pa., McKinney-Whetstone opens her sixth novel on the eve of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Meda, a beautiful young black woman, delivers the secret child of her employer, lawyer Tom Benin (who is white), at a medical office for clandestine services. After the baby is taken from her at birth, Sylvie, an apprentice to the midwife, lies and tells Meda her infant girl has died. Bereft and ungrounded, Meda seeks consolation by serving as a wet nurse to a pair of white newborn boys at a nearby orphanage, naming them Bram and Linc after the slain president she admired. Through a deal with Benin, Bram and Linc are able to stay with Meda on weekends and holidays. After cruelty and abuse from their employer forces the boys from Philadelphia, Meda and her family continue to treat them as their own. In the meantime, Sylvia has become a formidable and capable nurse at the city's island quarantine hospital, Lazaretto. When the boys return to the city in desperate circumstances, old paths eventually converge at the hospital. McKinney-Whetstone explores racial passing, class prejudice, the nature of family, and the longings of forbidden love, but the disjointed narratives often feel like two separate novels uncomfortably forced together. The emotional content is never allowed to rise above predictable contrivances of plot and unremarkable characterizations. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
On the night of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, nurse Sylvia delivers a baby in Philadelphia. The newborn is the child of Meda, a black woman, and her white employer. Though born alive, the baby is pronounced dead by the father. The haunting events of the birth intertwine the lives and communities of Sylvia and Meda. VERDICT Readers of Lalita Tademy will embrace the vibrant characters in McKinney-Whetstone's unforgettable novel. (LJ 2/15/16) © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
McKinney-Whetstone's sixth novel (Trading Dreams at Midnight, 2008, etc.) explores a fateful shooting that rocks the close-knit African-American community surrounding the Lazaretto Hospital in post-Civil War Philadelphia. On the night of Lincoln's assassination, a black maid named Meda is rushed to the office of local midwife Dr. Miss by Tom Benin, her white boss and father of her child. It's the first birth that Sylvia, the assisting nurse-in-training, has attended. So when Benin tells Dr. Miss that he'll be taking the baby and Meda must be told the baby has died, Sylvia is understandably shaken. The question of who can retain control over his or her own body becomes central to the narrative. As one of the few doctors serving blacks in 1865, Dr. Miss was able to provide much-needed health care for the community as well as training for aspiring black nurses like Sylvia; however, the hierarchy of racial power dynamics still permeated every aspect of their work. In haunting, vivid language, Meda's breasts overflow with milk as she mourns the newborn she was never able to hold in her arms. Language sings throughout the whole of McKinney-Whetstone's writingfrom the lilt of her characters' colloquial speech to her poetic, visceral descriptions. Meda's and Sylvia's lives continue to intertwine through their roles as surrogate mothersMeda to Lincoln and Abraham, two orphaned boys Benin sends her to look after; Sylvia to her cousin Vergie. But after Lincoln and Abraham are assaulted by a powerful man and forced to flee Philadelphia, all these lives intersect when a quarantine shuts down Lazaretto Hospital and decades-old secrets finally come to light. A sophisticated and compelling novel that comes alive through a rich cavalcade of vibrant characters and a suspenseful plot. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.