Very interesting and sort of powerful too. But i found it to have some or alot of boring places, and i went in blind and it was not what i had hoped it to be.

Amanda Skenandore reminded me of The Reconstruction Era, an era in our history I had forgotten about. This story is one of my favorite’s this year. It is rich in actual-history, which had me looking everything up to teach myself more about this era.
Effie Jones is a character I would love to sit and talk with. She is a strong, powerful survivor!
Reading a book that makes me smarter is always an ace in the hole!!
I received a copy of this book from the author via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
#NetGalley, #AmandaSkenandore, #TheUndertakersAssistant

The Reconstruction period after the Civil War was a time when the hopes of the newly freed African-Americans were built up and then dashed by the resurgence of white supremacy. This book looks the life of a black woman during that period.

Effie is a fish out of water. She escaped slavery as a child. Her first memory is being taken in by a Union army camp. She was cared for by an Army doctor who took her home with him to Indiana after the war. She was raised as his ward and trained to help him with his new career as an undertaker. Now as an adult she is drawn back to New Orleans to try to find out more about her life. Did she have family? Can she find them?

Her instinct is to stay to herself. She has an introduction from her guardian to an undertaker who was a Union officer in the war. She gets a job that takes up most of her time but she slowly starts to meet new people. She gets involved in Republican politics after developing a crush on a black state senator. This exposes her to the ambitions of people who were formerly enslaved. She also meets a Creole woman and her mother. They are biracial upper class women who mourn the loss of status and wealth that has come about because of the war. These two groups of people allow the author to explore the effects of the end of slavery on several different classes of black and mixed race people.

I would have liked to known more about her employer. He was a southerner who chose to fight the for Union and then came back south to his hometown. Stress from the war and his unwelcome reception back in town have started him drinking. Over the course of the book he works on acclimating back into upper class white society. He needs to abandon the beliefs that would have led him to fight for the north to do this. Because we don’t see his point of view, it appears very random and arbitrary. I would have like to have seen this change explored more deeply.

I loved this book. It shows how historical fiction can be used to explore many points of view and experiences in the same time frame. Using Effie as an outsider to all of them is a good device to see everyone clearly.

Amanda Skenandore is an exquisite writer of unparalleled talent. I read her first novel in one sitting, and finished this one similarly. Please read this book, you will not be disappointed!

Good story, just didn't connect with the characters., I am sure someone else will truly enjoy this story. Sorry.

I really liked this novel. It was really interesting learning about a female undertaker.

I also enjoyed the story and learning about her hardships.

Thank you to netgalley and the author for an advanced reading copy. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. 3.5/4.

Set during the reconstruction era in New Orleans
Effie Jones is an escaped slave who made it to the union. She was raised by a army surgeon and his wife. She learned to read and write and other skills.

When she returns to New Orleans, she comes across a undertaker wise looking for help. Effie is looking for work as a embalmer. Her main purpose is to be able to trace back to her family roots and reconnect with them. Effie is great at her job. She's quiet but she pays great attention to detail. She has vast knowledge of science and anatomy, but the color of her skin makes people not take her serious. She still did her job with love and care. Always very professional with the deceased. Not only that, but she always seemed to come to her employers's aide when he couldn't do his part.

Eventually Effie started to involve herself with political and racial activism and started to fall in love with a legislator by the name of Samson Greene. Follow Effie's adventures as she deals with her job,employer, the boarding house, activist groups and more. I must say this book started very slow for me and I had to put it down many times, but it finally picked up and I was able to get back into it. Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2020 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2020/01/2020-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

I did not finish this book because I just had a hard time getting into it. I just don't think I was the right reader for the book.

I wish I hadn’t let this book sit on my TBR for so long. This is my sweet spot of American historical fiction around the Civil War era. I really enjoyed this book was unique from many I have read. It was set in New Orleans post Civil War and the protagonist was a former slave. It has action, learning about oneself, politics, and romance. It was a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.

This one is different than your usual Civil War book. Set during Reconstruction-era New Orleans, the cast of characters especially Effie Jones, a former slave who escaped to the Union side as a child will make you sit up and take notice . Taken in by an army surgeon and his wife during the War, she learned to read and write, to tolerate the sight of blood and broken bodies. Things that are just not the norm for women and especially women of this time period Effie is not afraid to get involved in and becomes an undertakers assistant.
She returns south as a free woman to New Orleans and becomes an embalmer, her skills make up for the lack of competence of her employer.
Despite the difficulties Effie faces in her life she shows a quite and unmatched inner strength no one can fault.
Deals with racial turmoil, uncertainty revolving her relationships with state legislator Samson Greene, and a beautiful young Creole, Adeline.
There is a goal to all of this as suppressed memories all come back to her at the end despite trying to block it as she tries to seek out her kin.
Quite the unexpected ending I just didn't see it coming. A must read, this historical kept me memorized through out as I turned the pages. The author has a captivating writing style.

Published July 30th 2019 by Kensington Publishing Corporation
I was given a complimentary copy. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.
1 like

Not as powerful as Skenandore's debut novel, Between Earth and Sky, but still touching and enlightening. Effie was a great character and I loved the development of the side characters as well. Skenandore is amazing in her attention to detail and historical research. I'm eager to see what else she can produce.

I'm going to have to be honest and say that I didn't like this book. It's just not my cup of tea. I couldn't like the characters (I tried), I didn't care for the plot...maybe it's just the same old, same old....I 😢 don't know. Please don't judge this book from my feelings, most people liked it!
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.
All opinions are my own.

In war ravaged New Orleans, Twenty one year old Effie Jones is trying to search out her roots. Having escaped slavery as a child with the help of Union officer, Captain John Kinyon and his wife, Effie was taught how to be an embalmer. Intending to seek out employment in New Orleans, Effie approaches Colonel Whitmark, the local undertaker, who is an Alcoholic. Being employed as the undertaker's assistant, Effie puts all of her energy into her work and finds little time for socializing. Out on an errand, Effie runs into Samson Greene, an activist that is trying to get needed changes made. Over time, Effie begins going to the representatives meetings to see Samson. Effie begins to fall in love with Samson but will he return her love? Author Amanda Skenandore, has written a remarkable book that describes the post civil war reconstruction era. Extremely well written this novel touched all of my emotions. I look forward to reading more of this brilliant authors works!

The Undertaker's Assistant is a story set during Reconstruction in New Orleans. Effie, a former slave, was rescued during the war by a Union doctor and spent the next 10+ years learning the embalming trade. When she leaves her adoptive home in Indiana to return to New Orleans in search of her past she is able to work and friends.

Effie reaches out to here teacher's former colleague who while a southerner was on the side of the Union. She proves herself to be a better embalmer than him and starts to make a life. Effie decides that she wants to remember her life before the age of seven, when she found the Union Army. Through the help of a "medium", new friends of the local Republican Club, and a Voodoo Queen, Effie begins to remember some of the important parts of her slave life.

This story takes place as the white southerners begin to really push back against the power of the former slaves and the carpetbaggers. A few of the events in the book are based on actual events during this time. Reconstruction is not a part of history that is really covered in school so this type of book just makes me more interested in finding out more about what actually occurred.

The Undertaker’s Assistant takes place in Reconstruction Era New Orleans. This is a particularly interesting and stressful period and location in American History. Not only were racial tensions building following the Civil War, but the women’s suffrage movement was attempting to gain national momentum. While the country remains ideologically divided and legally united, its citizens are attempting to reestablish the new American identity and build a society of people with diametrically opposed beliefs.

In this novel we meet Effie, a southern born slave, rescued by the northern army as a child. At the beginning of the story, Effie has just arrived in New Orleans from Indiana and does not remember much of her life when she lived in the South. Despite her birthplace, she is viewed and mostly identifies as a “Yankee,” further separating her from the people she is surrounded by. Add to that, Effie’s aloof personality and lack of emotional connections, and she is almost always an outsider looking in.

For most of the first half of the book, I found it very difficult to get invested in Effie and her story. Though the situation was full of dramatic events and heart wrenching depictions, I didn’t feel connected to Effie. For some people, that wouldn’t be a problem, but I’ve learned that I really need some sort of emotional connection to the characters in order to really get engrossed in a book. I honestly believe the author made Effie unreachable on purpose, because she really was unapproachable for everyone in the book as well.

Slowly, as Effie begins to open up, so does the book. It comes to life as more characters begin to join Effie’s journey, making it take a different shape and feel. With Samson romance and passion is discovered, with Adeline friendship and betrayal, and with Tom, loyalty and kinship with the possibility of more. It was interesting to read about a woman finding herself in the midst of a country finding itself. No one quite knows who they are or who to be.

This was a very interesting and enjoyable book, especially after the first 100 pages. Once it really gets going, and hits its stride, it’s almost impossible to put down.

Special thanks to Amanda Skenandore, HF Virtual Book Tours, and Kensington Publishing Corp. for a copy of The Undertaker’s Assistant in exchange for an honest review.

Well written historical fiction with engaging characters and descriptions of post-Civil War New Orleans. Escaped slave Effie Jones returns to New Orleans to work as an embalmer. A little slow to start, but definitely worth the read.

An intense historical novel set during the reformation after the Civil War. A young slave child escapes into the hands of a yankee doctor during during fighting. She becomes his ward and returns home to Indiana with him to be trained as his assistant and eventually learning the undertaking trade. As an adult she leaves him and travels home to New Orleans in hopes of finding family connections. Unfortunately she has virtually no memory before age 7. Effie is on a heart rendering journey to find herself among the unstable political climate in the south. Their she practices her trade as an undertakers assistant and expert embalmer. I appreciated the historical content much more than the details about how to embalm a body. Effie is a strong and sympathetic negro woman living in impossibly cruel times.

Did not not write a review for Goodreads. Rated three stars. Could not become engaged in the characters or their relationships

What a great read!
This is the story of Effie Jones, a former slave and freedwoman. She becomes an undertakers assistent in New Orleans shortly after the civil war, she falls in love with a black leader en become friends with a creole fortune teller. A very good story of survival and so very very out of my comfort zone. But i loved every word of this book! The Undertakers Assistent both entertained and educated me. Amanda's very well researched novel sucked me right into this post civil war period. She brought the characters to life with an unbelievable amount of knowledge. The setting of New Orleans in the 1870's and Effies profession as an embalmer are truly fascinating. The medical details made the story even more interesting for me, described so vividly you almost looking over Effies shoulder while she does the embalming process. Fun detail for me (since English is not my first language), Amanda used a great deal of French in the book , i did not had to look those words and sentences up. Some English words and expressions did require a little investigation. For example Yellow Jack? In the context of the story I would say yellow fever. Anyway, highly recommended !