Wow - what an excellent book! I am once again disappointed that I put a book off for a while because I didn't think it would interest me. I was caught up in the saga of Lalita Tademy's family - great-grandmother Emilie, great-great-grandmother Philomene, great-great-great grandmother Suzette and great-great-great-great grandmother Elizabeth. All up to and including Philomene were born into slavery in Louisiana. They were slaves of French Creole planters - spoke French and were Catholic. It was interesting to hear about their lives - the Frenchmen they both loved and hated, their children and their struggles and triumphs in life. Not a "poor, pitiful me" book at all - Ms. Tademy was a vice president at Sun Microsystems before she left to write this book about her history. She has succeeded in life and I think hearing about the strong women in her family will give you insight into why. I hope she writes more!

Saved for GenSparkie.

Released on Thursday, August 07, 2003 at To a fellow Book Crosser by USPS in Arcata, California USA.

This looks like a great audio book! I'll likely listen in the next week and pop it into one of the three audio book boxes coming my way.

An engaging listen!I too was unsure about whether I would like this book or not, but the author tells the stories so honestly and yet sympathetically that I felt like I knew each of the characters. I was also relieved that there wasn't a "poor me" feeling to the book - though everyone had their share of hardships, the overwhelming feeling was that of resilience and strength.
Recommended.