Spanning over three generations and over 100 years, Stranger Here Below delves into the lives, loves, losses, and secrets of women with a common thread.
Amazing Grace Jensen (called Maze) from Appalachia and Mary Elizabeth Cox, daughter of a southern black preacher meet at Berea College in Kentucky as roommates. Berea College had just opened its doors to black students and Mary was one of a few who enrolled.
Despite their differences, the two became fast friends. Mary Elizabeth was an accomplished piano player and Maze enjoyed listening to her play. Maze had an obsession with weaving and did so for hours at a time. The college soon discovered Mary Elizabeth’s talent and set up special recitals to show case her. Was there a more sinister reason for them to put her on display?
We go on to learn about their childhood and their parents. Maze’s mother, Vista became pregnant with Maze and was married but her husband left her during their wedding night. She woke up to a note from him. Her mother, who had also been a single mother as well, was very willing to help raise Maze but Vista left and fought to keep Maze fed and a roof over their heads.
Mary Elizabeth’s mother suffered a terrible loss as a child and was haunted by it for the rest of her life. When it happened she stopped talking for a long time, until she met a boy. They eventually married, he became a preacher, and they moved to a better neighbourhood.
Then there was Georgina Ward who had taught at Berea College 60 years before. Her father, a son of an abolitionist sent her there soon after she declared her love for a black man, forbidding her to see him. She taught there for some time but opened her classroom to black people to listen to her lectures. They were not allowed to become students there and eventually after the school learned what Georgina was doing they threw her out.
She ended up in a Shaker community and took a vow as a sister. It was there, many years later that Vista and Maze met her and cared for her.
This story has a lot of people to remember as it weaves back and forth from one generation to the next and back again. However, they are all unforgettable characters. Joyce Hinnefeild ‘s poetic prose sings to the reader. This book was very hard to put down. It would make an excellent book club book as there are a lot of issues that could be discussed. If you enjoy historical fiction and multigenerational stories, this book is for you.
5/5
About the Author:
Joyce Hinnefeld is the Cohen Chair in English and Literature at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa. She is the author of a short story collection, Tell Me Everything and Other Stories (University Press of New England, 1998), which was awarded the 1997 Breadloaf Writer’s Conference Bakeless Prize in Fiction in 1997. Her first novel, In Hovering Flight, was a #1 Indie Next Pick.
Thanks to Unbridled Books and Net Galley for the ebook version of this book. So sorry for the lateness of my review.
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