This was a book club selection, and several members thought it was wonderful; and the reviews I’ve read here seem to agree. But I don’t. It was very impressive that Ruth McBride Jordan raised 12 children and that all of them now have college degrees. And when the author was writing from his mother’s perspective, it was somewhat engrossing. But from his perspective, it just seemed like he was just vaguely glossing over and describing things that happened. I just didn’t get into that part of the story. To me this story was very interesting, but the writing was subpar.

The first time I read this book, I just felt a little something inside feel for this woman; Here you have a Jewish woman born in Poland; her father and mother came to the U.S. to Virginia and started a neighborhood store there; the father is unyielding and merciless due to him failing as a rabbi; the mother longsuffering; since they live around blacks, Rachel becomes attracted to black men; After leaving home twice; once due to her being tired of her father’s ways, she returned to help her mother who was ailing, but left again to marry her first husband and bear him seven children; he was hard working and even started a church that is still in existence to this day; after she bore the author in 1957, he dies, and several months later, she meets another gentleman who marries her with the kids and gives her five more children; Despite of the hardship and differences(her family turn their backs on her when she married the first husband), she still raises a fine group of kids who did well despite of the odds; It will make ou cry, it will make you want to ask why? it will even make you wonder how far we have come in race relations today; either way it goes, it’s a great book to the testament of Rachel Shilksy McBride Jordan; HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Testament to the laws of determination and character, this book is a poignant, often heartbreaking and always intriguing account of one unlikely family growing up to be a triumphant example of what we’re all capable of despite the most tangled odds and circumstances. Loved it.