One of those books that is hard to read because, while it's fiction, you know things like that happened. It goes into the way blacks were treated in the army in the 60. About a white man that was put in charge of the black soldiers because he was Jewish. Just slightly higher thought of than blacks.

The quality of writing was poor. two chapters started with similar sentences and the emotional development of the characters and plot were unenjoyable.

3.7 - somewhat disjointed as to Rachel's domestic situation, but interesting for the 1940s war history

Thank you for the chance to review this book, however, unfortunately, I was unable to read and review this title before it was archived.

I am unable to provide a proper review as my kindle updated and this title was lost.

I will be recommending this for our fall book club.

really interesting novel of both WWII and families. This isn't about horses (like so many of Singer's other books) it's about people. The experience of Jewish soldiers commanding African American soldiers in the Deep South during WWII is not something I'd read before so this, while depressing in many ways, was also a learning experience. Rachel had such a difficult childhood with such an unforgiving father and it isn't, sadly, until he dies that she understands his psychological issues. This is more thoughtful than I expected and I slowed down to savor it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Fans of historical fiction should try this for something different.

If you grew up with a father you didn't understand, grab Singer's In the Shadow of Alabama. Having worked in the military, that part of his life affected his family life for decades, even up until the day he died. Sam and Rachel, his daughters, couldn't be more different. One has been through several husbands, and Rachel, the "black sheep" of the family, runs a horse farm and writes books. When a woman she doesn't know comes to her father's funeral with an interesting story about their fathers, Rachel's intrigued and ends up learning much more about her father's life and his early work life than she ever would've believed. This book has a lot of heart and the love, along with moments of historical tragedies, keep readers hooked.

So, so much is right with this wonderful book, from the title, the inviting and gorgeous cover to the heartfelt story and amazing characters.Have adored horses since I was a preteen, and Rachel our main character is writer who also happens to raise and train horses on her very own ranch. The old man Malachi, who seems to have come with the property quickly won my heart, just adored this character.

Rachel's father is dying, she receives a call from her sister and though she does not have any fond memories of her father, nor feel much love for the man he was, guilt and responsibility wins the day. He subsequently dies, and a happening at his burial will have Rachel seeking answers and understanding for the man she felt she never knew. This quest will take her and us back t 1941, an army base in Alabama where her father was the Jewish lieutenant in charge of an all negro crew.

Racial prejucide and the treatment of blacks in the service, so awful how these men were treated. A man who cared so much for his men but coming from the North had little or no understanding of how things went in the South for blacks at this time. Experiences that scarred many for life, the effects of PTSD, and all around disillisionment with the human race, reflected in the treatment of family and friends. We meet a wonderful elderly black man who will tell Rachel her father's story and it is the realization of the man he was that propels Rachel to examine and make changes in her own life.

I loved the story before reading the acknowledgements, but after reading that this is basically her own father's story I realized why this story seemed so real, why the writing seemed so personal. A wonderful story about a heartbreaking time with serious repercussions.

ARC from Netgalley.

Woman journeys into father's past in 'In the Shadow of Alabama'
Rachel Fleischer’s father is dying, but she is reluctant to be at his deathbed. Their relationship has always been strained, so strained that she left home after graduating from high school at the age of 15.

It is also a difficult time for her to leave her horse ranch. It’s foaling time, and Malachi, her aging horse handler and more a father figure to her, is having more difficulty running things by himself. Surely her always-critical mother and her sister, the “good daughter,” can handle everything by themselves. Malachi convinces her to go.

When a stranger comes to the funeral to deliver the gift of a photo album and an apology from her father, Rachel is drawn into a part of her father’s life she never knew much about—his time as a Jewish sergeant in charge of a platoon of black soldiers in Alabama during World War II.

“He carried a suitcase of grievances throughout his life, things I didn’t understand and didn’t care to. He never spoke of his time in the Army Air Force—that’s what it was called when he was a soldier. He had served during World War II, and it hadn’t been good. I knew that much.”

The stranger’s father, Willie, has long wanted to make amends for a grudge he has held way too long. Rachel’s curiosity and desire to understand her father send her to visit Willie.

Author Judy Reene Singer’s masterful storytelling of Rachel’s journey into her father’s past and its impact on her life will draw the reader in completely. The narrative flows from Rachel’s current struggles with current relationships in her life to the experiences in Alabama, which had huge repercussions on the rest of her father’s life, and the lives of her entire family. Each time Rachel returns to learn more from Willie, everything starts to make more sense to her, finally bringing some peace to her life.

“Maybe love doesn’t need to be returned like an envelope with its stamp missing. Maybe it exists for itself and that’s fine. I will be all right; I will fight to be all right. I might thrive, even.”

This is a powerful, beautifully written book, made even more powerful by the author’s revelations in the acknowledgements. I will be closely watching for Singer’s next offering.

Sandy Mahaffey is former Books editor at The Free Lance–Star.

In The Shadow of Alabama is a beautifully written book that deals with characters that are so real they jump off the page. It tells the story of Rachel Fleischer and her family, alternating between present day and her father's experiences during WWII serving as a Sargent in command of a black squadron at a base in Alabama.

Rachel's dad is dying, and she doesn't want to see him. Martin Fleischer is a bitter, difficult, indifferent man, and she has, so she thinks, put him behind her when she left home at 15. In reality, he has shaped every portion of her life, and not in a good way. A beloved friend insists she go see him so that she doesn't regret it later. She goes. When she attends his funeral, a black woman stands in the back, and gives Rachel's mother a record album from her father, Willie Jackson, a member of the squadron Martin commanded. Willie wanted to attend to pay his respects, but couldn't because of poor health. He also wants to make amends and to apologize for calling Martin a murderer.

Rachel's mother won't tell her why someone would call her father a murderer, so she seeks out Willie, an old man hoping to clear his conscience, who is glad for the chance to tell his story. Through his reminiscing, we learn of what it was like to be colored in America in the 1940's and also colored in the military. Martin, a Jew, was put in charge of a squadron of colored because he too, was considered less than in that time period. The southern white military delighted in harassing Martin and his crew. Martin was a different man in those days; it was his experiences in the military that scarred his soul and changed him forever. There are several tragedies during the book; some as a result of war, some as a result of prejudice, all riveting. The impact of these changed not only Martin and his crew, but affected their interactions with their families as well. The impact of Martin on his wife and daughters is deep.

This is a book about coming to terms with the past, of reconciliation, of acknowledging intent over actions, and recognizing the pain of others. "You have to look with your heart. It is really the vision from the heart that matters."

It was only in reading the author's notes at the end of the book that we find this is not really a work of fiction, but more of a memoir about her own father.

An excellent read!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this wonderful book!

In the Shadow of Alabama is a quietly powerful novel about the prisons we make for ourselves and how they affect our lives. The story is two-fold, one part a daughter's discovery of her father's past and it's ramifications on her present, and the other an old man's reminiscences of a tragic, guilt-ridden past. The author has created characters that are at once realistic and larger than life, and the reader can't help but get emotionally involved in their lives and struggles. The writing style is descriptive and often lyrical and flows easily.
"Alabama sun was really something, Willie though, it was really something. It battered you, enshrouded you, like it had made a pact with hell and humidity to bring you to your knees."

I enjoyed this book far more than I expected, and highly recommend it.

This book was ok. I liked the history in it. It also points out that people and histories are not black and white. While I enjoyed the story I found myself kind of skimming pages to get to the end

I would like to thank Judy Reene Singer, Kensington Books and Netgalley for giving me this book for my honest review!
Review By Stephanie
Rachel is in the midst of foaling season when her father is dying. She lets her mother and sister handle the needs of her father while she takes care of the needs of the horses. Then at her father’s funeral a stranger hands Rachel an odd gift. This gift quickly forces Rachel into her father’s past.
I loved this book! I loved how this book spans two different time frames seamlessly. Rachel’s father story was amazing. I love a good World War II story so I was just as engrossed as Rachel was in his life. The friendships he formed the trauma he saw and endured and then the secrets that were hidden from the whole family. After reading In the Shadow of Alabama I feel like I got a history lesson. This book was so interesting!

Rachel Fleischer’s father is dying.

Some daughters might rush to their father’s side; Rachel has multiple reasons tugging at her, keeping her near home. At her small ranch, it’s foaling season, a difficult time for her to be gone. She doesn’t particularly want to be there, to deal with her sister, who can do no wrong in her mother’s eyes, or to deal with her mother, in whose eyes she can do nothing right. And then there’s her father.

He carried a suitcase of grievances throughout his life, things I didn’t understand and didn’t care to. He never spoke of his time in the Army Air Force—that’s what it was called when he was a soldier. He had served during World War II, and it hadn’t been good. I knew that much.

When a strange woman appears at her father’s funeral, it opens some questions when she delivers a package. Something from her father, a memento, of sorts, a way of reaching out, perhaps an attempt to make amends for the years lost to grudges held too long. This strange woman’s father reaching out to her father at the end of his days speaks to her need for something more from her father. Rachel’s curiosity eventually takes her on a trip to follow up, there must be more to this.

I had read Buzz Books Spring Summer excerpt of In the Shadow of Alabama and knowing the era, and some of the details, I was enticed to read this. After his graduation, my father went to work for Musgrove School of Aviation, then West Virginia Air Service, then as a Flight Instructor for Graham Aviation. Later that year Graham Aviation became a contracted school for the Army Air Corps at Americus, Georgia, and he began training US Air Corps and British RAF cadets for flight combat. I don’t know the exact date when he began at Graham before it contracted with the Army Air Corps, but I do have his group photo of the Flight Instructors, dated 27 February 1942. Souther Field in Americus, Georgia vs. Gunter Field in Montgomery, Alabama. Not very far apart geographically.

This story is about the aftermath of war, the bond of those who serve together, how war’s impact is felt beyond the training grounds and the battlefields and hurts even those who never set foot in those shoes. How sometimes words can hurt, but words can also heal. And time. They say that time heals all wounds… at least wraps them up a bit, covering up the sharp edges, easier to put away. Time can also bond you to another person, an experience you shared, good…or bad.

Another era, another way of looking at the world, of looking at people and judging them by things that really don’t matter. These things are always hard for me to read about, but I know that they existed, still do, that as much as they might be better than they were in 1940s Alabama, we still have miles to go.

Race. War. Love. Family. Bitterness. The Past and the Present are all woven through this story which might just be a bit closer to a biography / autobiography-memoir than just a novel.

You have to look with your heart. It is really the vision from the heart that matters.


Pub Date: 30 May 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Kensington Books

Rachel Fleischer reluctantly leaves her horse farm to go to travel to her father’s deathbed. The Fleischer family didn’t do “family” well. It’s not until Rachel meets a stranger at her father’s funeral, a stranger whose gift leads Rachel to trace her father’s past and his time as a Jewish sergeant in command of a regiment of Black soldiers during World War II in 1940’s Alabama that she gets a sense of the man her father really was. This is a masterful story of bravery and compassion suppressing ignorance and bigotry

Judy Reene Singer has moved to the top of my "favorite authors" list with this novel. She has created characters that are deeply flawed, but each has hidden - and redeemable - values. Rachel Fleischer didn't want to be there when her dad died. There was no love lost between. When a mysterious gentleman, an elderly black man who served in the military with her father, offers to tell her more about her dad, she reluctantly agrees. What she discovers is that time changes a person - for better or worse. And that what you see may not even be the tiniest glimpse into a person's past and how it shapes the present.

A nice story about a woman and the relationship she has with her father.