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Stand the Storm

Breena Clarke

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Pub. Date: July 28, 2008

ISBN-13: 9780316007047

336pp

www.hachettebookgroupusa.com

Review requested by Reader Views

Book Room Review

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Like her wonderful book River, Cross My Heart (Oprah's Book Club), Breena Clarke’s new novel, Stand the Storm, is about the struggles of slavery. The story is set in Georgetown. The book’s main character, Sewing Annie Coats, is a slave working for the Ridley plantation. Before her, Knitting Annie watched over her and taught her everything she knew about sewing. Her talent for sewing kept Annie from having to work in the fields. After falling in love, Annie had two children, Gabriel and Ellen. Annie taught them everything she knew about sewing and soon they were both adept at the task. At the age of ten, Gabriel was sold to a tailor, Abraham Pearl.

Soon Annie begins to work with Gabriel and they continue to sew in order to buy their freedom. Along the way, they meet a runaway slave named Mary and help her. Mary and Gabriel fall in love and they get married. They also begin to help other slaves escape to freedom. But, when they think they have bought their freedom, they discover that Jonathon Ridley has been cheating them and others. They continue to struggle through this oppressive time until freedom becomes a reality.

Breena Clarke’s writing is like poetry. The images she creates through her expressive and detailed phrasings and word uses make the reader feel the characters’ pain and joy. After buying his family’s freedom, Gabriel returns to them, and instead of speaking, he begins to sing, and soon they all join him in expressing how they feel at that moment. It is moments like this that make this story so powerful. Breena makes you feel the family’s faith and hope. What Mary went through when she was caught for running away will stay with me for some time. I think you will feel the same. This is a powerful and heartfelt novel that you should add to your reading list.

Book Room Grade

B

Review Posted: June 30, 2008

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