Oh, what a lovely book. It is no surprise to me that the author has previously written poetry as her language throughout is beautiful poetic.
I knew that this was going to be a great book as a third of the way through I already underlined three phrases and tweeted about the discovery of a fabulous novel.
This is the authors first novel and I for one will be keeping an eye on her as I’m sure future novels will be equally fabulous.
The story is told from a point of view of a number of characters, but particularly that of a 14-year-old girl. The author manages to switch between time periods, and from 1st to 3rd person, telling the story so well that I was always very clear who I was reading about and when.
The novel deals with some highly traumatic episodes, such as the death of the narrator’s relatives in a church fire, surrounded by children who are unable to escape. These awful episodes of man’s inhumanity in particular the treatment of black people by white people in early 20th-century America. are dealt with in a careful and nuanced way .Reading them could be highly traumatic to the reader,it’s a fine tight rope to walk and the author manages to do this extremely well . The novel has an optimistic, hopeful feel to it.
The authors characters throughout the novel are well developed and feel like real people .
I enjoyed the support character of a poor White trash neighbour who was initially friends with the main characters, and subsequently gets adopted by a local schoolteacher in a rather sinister fashion. I wanted to know what happened to this girl in the future. The friendship between her and the older of the two main female lead characters was central to the storyline.Her desire to escape her poor bringing and become a pilot is very memorable. The odds are very much against her achieving these goals, but you as a reader really want good things to happen to her.
There are some highly memorable scenes, for example the scene where the father tells the story of his great grandparents church burning whilst driving home in a storm in the car, having just been been harassed by the local white Policeman is really stunning
I often miss reading the author’s acknowledgements in novels, but I was very glad that I’d read these as her acknowledgements to have family in particular were some of the most beautiful sentiments I have read.
I would recommend this novel to those who enjoy a literary novel. in my view, this is a book which should be on the Booker prize long list. If you enjoyed the Underground Railway by Colston Whitehead Denman Copperfield by Barbara Kingsolver send this is the book for you
An early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK, the bookies released in the UK on the 11th of July 2023 by Random House UK..

This review will be published on Goodreads, NetGalley, UK, and on my book blog bionicSarahsbooks.wordpress.com.

A powerful story , set in Maine during the late 1950’s, discussing racism, inequity, family, life and death. Cinthy and her family are only one of two black families living in their small , rural village. Their families work and contribute to their village, but are not treated as such. This debut novel for Rachel Griffiths takes the reader on a difficult journey with these families that is both heartbreaking and joyful at the same time. I truly loved the phrases “put back” and “called back”. I’ve never heard these used before, but they make the death experience gentle and kind, even under the most different circumstances.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC in return for my honest review.

Promise by Rachel Eliza Griffiths was a stunning book. It was poetic and beautiful. The language and writing were graceful. Promise was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. This book had so many things I struggle to put into words. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

A tale of one black family's story of resilience amongst a white community in the 1950s who are driving them out. It's also intertwined with exploring femininity and adolescence, although I still didn't ever fully understand the weird part at the beginning (you'll know if you've read.)

I have mixed feelings about this book and feel like I never really gelled with it but the writing was incredibly beautiful and it was a poignant read.