Erin Bartels has woven the subject of race discrimination among beautiful descriptions of the big family farm that is almost its own unique character in the story. We meet Mary Balsam, a young, barely married wife sending her husband off to war, not knowing how she will manage the crops or the big house. Mary's granddaughter, Nora, married a black man in the sixties after a Martin Luther King Jr. rally in 1963. They found refuge at the abandoned farm after she was disowned by her father. Forbidden love is all the sweeter when it is requited in the smallest way. Nora, after seeing the big picture said, "William was the right man, all right. But it was the wrong time, that's all." Elizabeth Balsam, Nora's great-niece found a reclusive Nora after losing her job as a journalist at the Detroit Free Press. A generation is skipped between each woman's story and each is so tightly woven the reader will keep reading to see what is going on next in each era.
The stories of the Civil War and its aftershocks were still a bit freshly written when I was a child. While most of the players were long gone, the stories were rich but not always pleasant. That was a terrible time for our country. When we think we cannot emerge stronger or better today, we can look back on how bad things were after President Lincoln was killed and the war ended.
I remember the turmoil of the sixties although I lived far from those hot spots of the time. We did not have cable news and in a way, I am glad of that. Today, with news at the ready, it seems we get so many theories and guesses that it still takes a few days to sort things out. The turmoil in our country today is not new. We may have thought we were past some of the injustice handed to others based on their race, politics or faith. We have not, though, I pray some day we will.
This book is a gentle reminder that we need to tell our stories so that our family history continues to the next generation. I am grateful for the stories that my mother wrote down and eagerly share stories with my grandchildren. We Hope for Better Things is an engaging family story that was worth telling. While it is fiction, it could be pieces of many stories. I recommend this book with 4 stars.
...from the publisher...
When Detroit Free Press reporter Elizabeth Balsam meets James Rich, his strange request--that she look up a relative she didn't know she had in order to deliver an old camera and a box of photos--seems like it isn't worth her time. But when she loses her job after a botched investigation, she suddenly finds herself with nothing but time.
At her great-aunt's 150-year-old farmhouse, Elizabeth uncovers a series of mysterious items, locked doors, and hidden graves. As she searches for answers to the riddles around her, the remarkable stories of two women who lived in this very house emerge as testaments to love, resilience, and courage in the face of war, racism, and misunderstanding. And as Elizabeth soon discovers, the past is never as past as we might like to think.
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