This novel covers a lot of topics in a sometimes confusing time frame. Clea Shine is the unofficially adopted white child of a black woman, Jerusha, in Mississippi. They live near a prison with Jerusha's sister and niece and their nearest neighbor is Clea's biological mother, a prostitute. This is just the beginning of a long, often disjointed saga. There are so many story lines introduced that I never felt one had been adequately explored before another began, and I never felt a connection with Clea as a child or as an adult. There was potential in this book that was never realized.

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Clea Shine was born into a situation that was repeating itself. Clea was born unwanted to an unwed mother, just as her mother had been. Both Cleas mother and grandmother
lived only to entertain themselves and men in their Mississippi hometown. The prison down the road provided ample opportunity. All of the men in the area knew where to go for a good time, and their women knew it. Everyone also knew that Clea was from this background.

When Clea was born, her mother immediately put her into a basket and gave her to a neighbor woman. Unmarried Jerusha raised Clea as her own child. Clea knew who her mother really was, and always felt out of place. She never felt she really belonged anywhere or to anyone. She felt she was a burden to everyone, including herself.

After a lifetime of struggling with her past and choices made by herself and others, Clea goes back to where it all began. With the help of Aunt Jerusha, Clea forces herself to get the answers she needs and then to face herself.

This poignant novel is heartbreaking and yet redeeming. Carolyn Wall explores how we punish ourselves for things beyond our control. This is a novel not to be missed.

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