Calling all book clubs! Clarke, whose debut novel, River, Cross My Heart, was a 1999 Oprah pick, scores again with this Civil War--era saga, set in Washington. She tells the deeply affecting story of a family of freed slaves in an evocative, historically rich book that brings the turbulent period alive. The author neither averts her eye from, nor sugarcoats the truth about, the uphill struggle for dignity in this gritty town.
Grade: A-