5.0 out of 5 stars Coming of age in 1960s Chicago
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2023
Every page of this clear-eyed and tender coming-of-age story grabbed my heart. Only after marrying across the color line and leaving her tight-knit community is Gail able to escape sexual abuse by trusted authorities–her priest and her family doctor. She then faces the daily barbs and insults of racial intolerance in 1960s Chicago, just as the drumbeat of social change is beginning to sound. Through a horrible twist of fate her baby’s blood vessels get scrambled, depriving her heart of oxygen. I found it inspiring to see how a young woman gets through all this, relying somewhat on new friends and family, and even more on her native intelligence and moral compass.
4 of 5 stars Enthralling memoir
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2023
I think this is one of the most compelling memoirs I’ve read. Gail Howard’s story about an uncomfortable childhood in a middle-class white family, racism directed at her and her Black husband, and the trauma of caring for an infant with a serious heart defect is a real page-turner.
The backdrop is Chicago in the late 60s. Social chaos and quickly shifting values carry Howard from her teen years, when she is abused by not only her priest, but her family doctor as well, to her young adulthood when she meets and falls in love with a good-looking Black man named Emmon. As a couple they at first encounter nasty stares and then blatant racism. As the author describes it, “It was part of being liberal that you acknowledged that Blacks had been wronged but at the same time assume that their accounts of racial bias were exaggerated. I’d learned quick that Black people weren’t making anything up.”
Gail discovers she is pregnant, and Emmon is delighted. They get married and their baby girl thrills them beyond measure. When they learn the child has a grave heart defect and will need constant care and multiple surgeries to stay alive, they are swamped with fear and dread but carry on to do their best to keep her as healthy and happy as possible. The descriptions of this lovely little baby are heartwarming. While, in the background, the couple’s encounters with racist police and landlords are appalling.
Howard’s prose is a bit uneven at times, but one thing is for sure, the struggles this couple endures make for an enthralling story.
5.0 out of 5 stars A Inspiring Testament to Resiliency
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2024
Bad experiences shape our lives, but they need not define us. Gail Howard was a clergy sexual abuse survivor, a woman who married and had children with a black man when such marriages were not yet legal in all states, and the mother of an very ill baby. As she faces the challenges in her life, she just digs in and keeps on going. Her story, and her book, is an inspiring testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.
5.0 out of 5 stars You won’t want to put this down.
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2024
Even though I knew the story, and maybe because I did, I found this book to be quite gripping.
Five stars Powerful
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024
This is a well written, true story about how trials and tribulations can be overcome and make you stronger. The author is completely honest and did not glorify her experiences. She wholeheartedly shares her reality, her life, her losses. Through her story, we feel her anger, sadness, confusion and ultimately joy.
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