Title: The House of Eve
Author: Sadeqa Johnson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Historical Fiction
Today is the day @bookfriendsbookclub when we finally get to discuss The House of Eve! This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2023, and I’m happy to say that it delivered!
The House of Eve takes readers on a dual POV journey from high school to college, through dreams and goals, all in the name of Motherhood. It tackles race within race, the prestigious Howard University, and the divides of the Black and Jewish communities in the 1950s.
I listened to the audio and the first POV comes from fifteen year old Ruby who is in high school and doing an advance program to try and become the first family member to go to college. Right away you can see she doesn’t have a great home life; her mom is more interested in men than raising her. But it wasn’t always bad. She used to live with her grandmother until she lost her vision. That’s why Ruby has big dreams to go to college and become and an eye doctor.
Then we meet Eleanor. She arrives to D.C. and Howard University from a small town in Ohio. She’s confident in her program of library archives, but not really confident in much else. Certainly, not the idea that a young handsome soon-to-be-doctor is smitten with her. Eventually, her and William marry with plans of a family. But things don’t always go according to plan…
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I just love, love, love the writing in this book. Sadeqa writes conversation so well. And the dual narrator audio narrated by Ariel Blake and Nicole Lewis was fantastic! The whole time I was listening I was wondering when these two characters would meet and how. It was worth it! Really strong themes in this book that I know are going to make excellent book club conversation. A must read! And if you haven’t read Yellow Wife that’s a must read too 😉
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