Under The Tulip Tree by Michelle Shocklee
NYC, Tuesday, October 29, 1929 – the stock market has crashed.
Nashville, Tennessee. Eight hours earlier. Lorena ‘Rena’ Leland is celebrating her sixteenth-birthday today. An aspiring writer with a diary in her hand, she dreams of writing for one of the major magazines in NYC after college.
1936. Her family is broke and broken as many others. Many are homeless and starving. The government creates projects to provide jobs to those in most dire situations. The irony of those who govern at the state capitol is that their windows overlook the Hell’s Half Acre, where the poorest have lived for decades.
After seven years, without a degree and with lack of jobs, Rena takes a position as a writer interviewing former slaves to preserve their stories. She is assigned to Mrs. Washington, who lives at the Hell’s Half Acre.
Mrs. Washington is 101 years old. The God will not allow her to leave this world until she talks to Rena. Thus, she agrees to be interviewed as she’d rather leave the past in the past. There is something special about this character. There is so much warmth to her. The way she talks and is comfortable in her own skin. And makes Rena comfortable to ask any question as Rena is not comfortable in her own skin.
I enjoyed both characters very much. Rena knows that her hardship doesn’t compare to Frankie’s (Mrs. Washington) as she comes from privileged family, destitute at present time due to economic crash. She needs some encouragement while dealing with discouraging parents. She has the need to know the details of Frankie’s story. After what Frankie has revealed, how did she continue on with her life? Rena needs to sort out the confusion in her own life.
I also enjoyed Rena’s Grandma’s story very much. (Don’t want to give out too many details).
We’ve read those stories before. But this one gives a new perspective. A story like no other told before. Mrs. Washington revealing her story from a perspective of a child. A child, who doesn’t comprehend the injustice, who must obey the abuse. As an adult, going through a period of anger. Once, she reaches a peace inside her, it radiates from her. Her story is heart-wrenching, but it also gives hope. Despite the horrible injustice, there is so much warmness and beauty in this story.
The way the story flows between two timelines and the warmly developed characters make this story very engrossing. Sometimes I feel exhausted by dual-timeline narrative, but not here. It only makes the pages turn quicker. I relished the prose and the word choice. Beautifully woven story, which is a page-turner.
There is so much wisdom and honesty in this story that I truly hope it sells in record numbers. That’s the kind of book that I hope it reaches masses of people. It’s a perfect timing for such story.
What you take for granted today, tomorrow you might be very grateful for. And it’s not necessarily due to economics; it might be because you talked to another human being and got to know that person.
Release date: 8 September 2020
Source: Tyndale House Publishers
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