This story focuses on Ivoe Williams, a young black women who lives in Little Tunis, a poor, segregated town in central-east Texas. Driven by her love of reading and the power of the written word, Ivoe earns a scholarship to a prestigious college in Austin. However, when she returns home, she finds there are no opportunities for her, other than menial labor. Undeterred, she continues seeking newspaper work, eventually moving with her family and settling in Kansas City. With her former teacher and lover, she founds the first female-run African-American newspaper. In the Midwest, in 1919, this is dangerous, but Ivoe risks her own freedom to call attention to the atrocities of what is happening in her own neighborhood and in the American prison system.
I enjoyed this book, although I sometimes found that I got a little confused when it would slip a bit in time, or abruptly change viewpoints. The book moves between 1897 and 1925, and while you mostly have Ivoe's story, you also have her mother's story. The interwoven stories of characters make this a rich book, that feels like a slice of history has been invigorated and brought to life.
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