Moonrise Over New Jessup

Excellent imagery and beautiful prose. The author seamlessly reels you into a dangerous yet hopeful historical time and space. The overall conflict leaves much to be desired, but it is important to note that the prevalence of racism in the south is a constant conflict throughout. Alice is suprisingly level-headed and peace-weilding to be the lone survivor of her own severed family. The way she welcomes love and community support as if she's never been hurt or abandoned speaks to an inner resilience that her counterparts did not seem to have. Alice is understandably full of torment and sorrow, which she masks very well, in the name of loyalty and idelaism. To the reader, she unravels her unedited thoughts and feelings of desperation. Although never collecting enough pieces to complete the puzzle of this story , it was good enough to finish, if not for the imagery alone. Lastly, most of the characters do not turn out to be nearly as mysterious or captivating as they could be. The novel has a slow pace, without any real rising conflict, and the plot is very much character driven with somewhat forgettable characters.