Search - Cane River

this book is great! It is a historical account of Ms. Tademy's family heritage. Three generations of women play major roles in this book. It was very touching and heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

This book surprised me. Author Tademy gave up a plumb job at Sun Microsystems, I believe it was, to research her roots and bring us this novel (she's since written a second.).

The story is strong and vividly written, with characters it is easy to love and who stay with you for a long time after you close the book.

This is one I liked so much, I've picked up spare copies to spread around.

I liked this book a lot. It did not dwell upon the detailed cruelty of slavery but rather the strength of the people who endured through generations of changes. It was an interesting look at plantation life in central Louisiana for over 125 years.

The author of the book was Vice President of Sun Microsystems when she decided to quit her job and research her family history. That research took her to Louisiana along the Cane River where she traced her family back to the beginning of 1799. Although part of the book is historical fiction quite a bit of it was based on information that she found during her research. The book covers 4 generation of women starting with Elizabeth who was born in 1799 into slavery. Suzette her youngest daughter who bore her first child at the tender age of 14 after being raped by a friend of her master. Suzette's strong willed daughter, Philomene who found a way to get what she wanted from another slave master and finally her daughter Emily who was the only one who did not have to go through the hardship of slavery.

At times this was quite heartbreaking reading what these women went through, but all 4 of them did not let the current situation they were in keep them from what they really needed or wanted. These were some of the strongest women ever. Anyone who is intrested in family history or genealogy I would highly recommend.

Great

I really enjoyed this book -- it's a true story of a slave woman and her descendants through freedom and how they survived once slavery was abolished.