I could eat this reformed rake arc with a GD spoon. Galen's obsessive devotion pairs so beautifully with Hester's shielded vulnerability, and I just couldn't get enough of the push and pull between these two. Like any Jenkins, the history is fascinating and deeply important to the love story. The political landslide caused by the Fugitive Slave Act shapes this late 1850s Michigan community, and we see the risks taken by Underground Railroad conductors even in "free" states. Particularly in the third act, you can see the tectonic shifts that are happening that will lead to the Civil War. 

One of my favorite elements of the romance itself is Jenkins' exploration of class differences. Hester is formerly enslaved - now free - with dark skin and permanently dyed hands and feet from her years working in indigo dyes. Galen is several-generations-free, wealthy from a family business in trading, and has very light skin. He has chosen a life working on the Underground Railroad but carries with him privilege Hester has no access to. She is constantly aware of the social gulfs that separate them, and Jenkins doesn't hesitate to show us the ripples of a union like theirs, and how classism and colorism intersect to create new challenges for their life together.

Of note, this is a 90s-era histrom, so expect heavy emphasis on virginity and gender essentialism (manhoods at every turn), and it's a Jenkins, so expect heavy use of euphemisms for intimacy (symphonic orgasms aplenty).

📝 Okay so I gather this was like, a historically important book. One of the first historical romances to feature Black love and become commercially successful. I can definitely see the appeal, but the book was originally published in 1996 and it does feel a little dated, which is maybe a weird thing to say about a historical. Things just seemed a little more sedate, I guess? Overall it was just a little more old fashioned than I like. But it was still a good book!

🤓 I liked that there were real historically relevant things in the text. It's kind of hard to avoid them, since we're talking about Black people in the antebellum United States (1858-59), but it's still good to have the details. Multiple references to the Fugitive Slave Act, the Dred Scott decision....not really sure how John Brown and Harper's Ferry was relevant to the love story, it felt like it was shoehorned in, but I'm all for including an armed insurrection in the text. Thinking back to what the average reader in 1996 might have known about the history of abolition, a lot of this was likely educative to them. Hey, even to a lot of readers now, it's probably at least somewhat new information.

🎧 The narration was a bit stiff, but the audio was produced a decade ago so that kind of fits I guess. Only one female narrator, although the POV switches between his and hers throughout. She does not change intonation or anything when she switches POVs.

🌶️ 3/5 there were a bunch of encounters but the steamy stuff overall was definitely more... flowery/roundabout language than I'm used to reading from more recently published books.

Dear god how did this take me so long to read. Ms. Bev is an artist. A revelation. A genius. A gift to us all. 

Read the content warnings - it’s a book about slavery and the Underground Railroad so it’s not a light read in many spots. But GOD does it rise out of the pain and deliver joy and beauty and pleasure, the things intended for and deserved by all people, no matter the limits of the time. Hester and Galen are a dream couple. Only Galen Vachon could have pulled off that church scene and had me on his side. 

I don’t feel I’m exaggerating in the slightest to say this feels like Austen - sumptuous, beautiful, sweeping, discussion of class and the struggles of the time, different, rich characters all struggling over the same tough questions. What is love and what makes us risk it all for it? If we are lucky enough to find and to recognize true love, are we brave enough to grab it with both hands, in spite of our baggage, our insecurities, our past, all the stories we tell ourselves about how we do not deserve the love we seek and the love we find?

Also I have never been so aroused by vanilla in my whole life and I don’t think I’ll ever smell it again without thinking of Galen Vachon tracing that Madagascar vanilla extract all over La Petite Indigo (in case you were wondering - yes it bangs and DOES IT EVER BANG!!!).

Just go get this book. I’ll buy it for you, I’ll drive you to the library, I’ll ship it to you. Just read it!!