Black Candle Women

Black Candle Women by Diane Marie Brown 368 pages

This novel was nothing like I expected. I expected a dual narrative, lots of voodoo/hoodoo/black magic and more New Orleans. Of course those expectations were based on one sentence at the end of the back over synopsis.

Thankfully, I wasn’t totally disappointed with the linear narrative, Black family life, generational trauma and a decades-old curse novel that I ended up reading.

Augusta Montrose fled New Orleans with her granddaughters after her spiritual mentor put a curse on the women in her family in the 1950s. Now it is current time. The curse has come true for Augusta and her oldest granddaughter, Victoria. The younger granddaughter, Willow, has managed to avoid it, but her life is spiraling towards it. Even Victoria’s great-granddaughter, seventeen-year-old Nickie is even barreling toward heartbreak and tears.

Although Victoria is not a licensed therapist, she runs a successful business out of their basement, using her special gift: being able to read people and talk with them through their troubles. She is highly respected in her African-American community. Her sister, Willow, has a side hustle going on that is steeped in the potions and powders she can make for the book of spells that Augusta brought from New Orleans.

Nickie is aware of the curse but does not feel that will be affect her. It is only after she is abandoned in a nearby hotel that Nickie comes to understand the consequences.

This story moved slowly. It just did not engage me as much as I thought it would based on the cover and synopsis. “Black Candle Women” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.