"Rue-baby" there ain't no easier lie to tell folks than the one they wanna believe."
This book was absolutely amazing. Another one I could not put down until the end.
Takes place in the South, before and after Civil War, on a southern plantation owned my Marse Charles, most prosperous landowner. It was more about slavery, the women and their community during slavery and after they are free. Told in different POV of the life of Miss May Belle who learned the art of hoodooing and her daughter, Miss The who follows after her mama, where she learned her lessons of conjuring.
You won't regret picking up this book to read.

Thank you to Publisher and NetGalley for the eARC

This is the book I have always wanted to read and also to write. There is definitely a Steinbeck feel to this novel - a Grapes of Wrath type theme but to the setting of the black experience during the Civil War. The author, Afia Atakora, does an excellent job revealing the best and worst of people in plantation life. The two main characters, Rue and May Belle, who are the healing women on the plantation, sometimes have to do some pretty bad stuff because their survival depends on it and I felt total empathy for them in these cases.

The novel is told has different parts and POVs- which I really enjoyed. The Civil War sections are narrated by May Belle, a woman on the plantation who heals and also works as a midwife. Her position is compromised, though, as her daughter grows and forms ties with the daughter of the plantation, Varina. Rue has grown up sheltered from what white people are capable of and this results in repercussions for Rue and her mother. Rue takes over her mother's duties in the next antebellum section. Rue is colder and blunter than her mother and this causes people to regard her with suspicion, fear, and unprecedented accusations when certain things start going wrong.

I don't want to go into too vivid of details because I hate reading spoilers, but I will say that I truly enjoyed reading this book. I love things about conjure and lore and this had everything I wanted with added lyricism and strong character development.

I finished this book yesterday, but I wanted to wait a day before I left a review. I wanted to see if I would continue to think about this book and/or let the book stew and simmer in my mind before I articulated my thoughts about this debut novel, Conjure Women, from Afia Atakora. I am still uncertain about what to say about this book. To be honest, it was not a remarkable read for me. Given the title, I was first intrigued because I figured this book had to do with some “magic”, vodun, healing, and conjuring. However, the more I read, the less and less it was about what I thought of as conjuring, but more of a complex host of situations that was happening in this non-sequential history of slavery before, during, and after the Civil War.

Conjure Women, follows the life of “Miss Rue,” who is the daughter of a conjurer. Miss May Belle, her mama, has learned the art of hoodooing, and there is where “Miss Rue” has learned her lessons of conjuring. A skittish and ‘stay out the way’ child, Miss Rue grows up with the lessons of conjuring from her mama, and we learn how Miss Rue grows up and comes of age within the boundaries of slavery and how she lives a life post-slavery. This book was both anti-climatic but engaging at the same time, and I was keen on seeing this novel all the way through. I may have the unpopular opinion about this novel, as I really didn’t like the way the story unfolded. The points of views changed constantly, the voice changed (back and forth from 2nd to 3rd), and the story dragged on endlessly. I thought this book had to do with the generations of conjure women in Rue’s family, but it more so dealt how Rue handled life, the consequences of slavery pre and post Civil War, and how she used conjuring to protect her ideas of life, liberty, and happiness. I also believe that Rue was institutionalized regarding slavery. She was free (post-Civil War), but saw freedom as useless, and didn’t want to leave her plantation. “Freedom seemed to them to be as useless as the currency of a nation that didn’t exist anymore.”

There was so much going on in this book to deal with… white women lying on black men. Black men being punished/killed for white lies. Black people trying to take control of the little they had by “protecting it,” through conjuring. Dealing with freedom. Learning how to deal with the devastation/plunder of black bodies under slavery. Passing for white. Being enslaved. Secrets. I mean the list can go on and on.

To be honest, I was very confused and disenchanted by this book about half way through, but I wanted to continue to get to the end to find out what was going to happen to Rue, Bean, Varina, Ma Doe, Miss May Belle, Bruh Abel, Jonah, and Sarah. Some backstories were not elaborated on, and left out some facts that I felt were pertinent to the story. Overall, was it a worthy read? Yes. I think this book will invoke some good discussions, especially around the institution of slavery and freedom, protecting what’s yours by any means necessary, and what white people’s entitlement means for black lives. For me though, I would rate this book a 3. I just wasn't that impressed with the overall package this book brought, and I was hoping for more that just didn't come to fruition.

Thank you to Net Galley, Afia Atakora and Random House for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

"...just as easy as folks' praise came, it could turn to hating. Magic and faith were fickle. Life and living were fickle. And didn't Rue know that as well as anyone?"

Miss Rue is a conjure woman, just like her mother, Miss May Belle, before her. Through slaverytime, wartime, and freedomtime, Miss Rue ushers new lives into this world, keeps company with those lives journeying to the next, and heals everyone in between. But her role in the community, which is still stabilizing after its freedom from slavery is secured by the outcome of the Civil War, is balancing on the knife's edge between magic and religion. What happens when the community begins to attribute their diseases and tragedies to her, the one person who has the skill and knowledge to heal them? Afia Atakora paints a truly stunning, dark, empathy-inducing picture of the challenges facing those communities of emancipated slaves who stayed in the South during Reconstruction in "Conjure Women." Atakora masterfully explores the thin lines in these communities between magic ("conjure") and religious faith, which is the central conflict of this deeply affecting novel. But "Conjure Women," maybe most importantly, is an intimate portrait of Black women who endured slavery and then reconstructed their lives after emancipation, and Atakora expertly uses strong character perspective brewed with dialect for a narrative that is deeply affecting. Atakora throws a window onto this era wide open for her readers through Rue's eyes. Fans of Colson Whitehead and magical realism will adore "Conjure Women."

I loved Conjure Women! Rue, the protagonist, is an amazing character, and I think she is a significant part of why I liked this book. She is strong and independent, but she is also vulnerable. She does what she thinks is best, but sometimes her judgment may be clouded. I enjoy complex characterization like this, and Rue’s secrets, which are slowly revealed to readers through the non-linear timeline, created a sense of momentum. There isn’t a lot of action in this book, really, but the book didn’t feel like a slow burn given the mysteries and compelling protagonist.

The story takes place before and after the American Civil war, and is set on a southern plantation. The plot deals with some of the horrors and brutalities that one would expect from such a setting, but Atakora doesn’t make a spectacle of these in the way some stories do. The black characters in the story experience violence, but they are not reduced to victims. I’m finding this aspect of the book difficult to explain without giving too much away, but the story neither ignores nor revels in the tragedies of slavery and racism. Atakora walks a fine balance here, and the result is impressive.

I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review. Wow-this debut novel blew me away with it's originality and brilliance. It tells the tale of life on a plantation, slavery, the Civil War, healing, magic, relationships, betrayal, and everything in between. It reads like a folktale and focuses on 3 women: a white woman who is the slave's owner and 2 slaves, a mother and her daughter who are the conjure women or healers who practice hoodoo. The timeline is not linear which required some getting used to and at times, the plot was a bit too slow but it's an immensely powerful and well written debut. 4.5

I thought this book was interesting with the plot twists and turns that keep you wondering just what is happening and the plot, pieces of the story reveal itself slowly. There is just enough mystery to keep you coming back for more. It was an interesting read, one that makes you can think.
#conjurewomen #netgalley

Afia Atakora deftly interweaves storylines from before, during and after the Civil War in an independent and isolated settlement of former slaves. Following in her mother’s footsteps, Rue is a midwife and healer in the community. When the community is tested by both outside and inside forces, Rue must find a way to save them

Conjure Women is a compelling saga of the pre- and post- Civil War South centered around two strong healing women. The alternating timelines will keep readers hooked and guessing.

Recommended for fans of Homegoing and She Would Be King.

Powerful debut. Atakora has written a compelling story, that of a single plantation before, during, and after the US Civil War from the perspective of a single enslaved woman, Rue. Rue is the Conjure Woman of the community, tasked with midwifery and the healing of her peopl, a job she inherited from mer mother, Miss May Bell.
The story opens with Rue awakening to a chilling cry coming from a nearby cabin. This is our first introduction to Bean, so named because of his unusual eyes, which appear to be almost all black, the sight of which prompts Rue to call him "Black Eyed Bean," a name that sticks. We follow Rue and Bean through Reconstruction, the years immediately following the Civil War, when the South was still reeling from the destruction wrought by battles and often by punitive Northern troops.
Left alone on a plantation with the master and male heirs killed in the war, Varina (the young Southern Belle daughter) and the enslaved community are left to fend for themselves. When the South surrenders and their freedom is is declared, some slaves leave, but many stay, preferring the relative safety of home to the perilous roads outside.
Conjure Women is the story of Rue's life, and how she uses what knowledge she has - of herbs, folklore, belief, and a sort of rudimentary psychology - to keep the community safe through an onslaught of threats, including Northern soldiers, disease, internal conflict, an itinerant preacher, and the nascent Ku Klux Klan-even when it turns against Rue herself.
Through flashbacks to "slaverytime" Atakora lays out how and why Rue came to be a Conjure Woman, and paints a vivid picture of the ways in which people survived slavery and the beatings, rapes, and daily torture that was inflicted upon them. It's a sobering story.

The real magic of the book though, is the language and the beautiful way in which Atakora has captured the tone and cadence of Southern speech without ever slipping into the horrible parody of most attempts at dialect. Brilliantly done.

"As a slave woman [Miss May Belle] made her name...by crafting curse...Hoodoo...is black folks currency...a white man would come from afar having heard of Miss May Belle's conjure, asking for cure of some affliction set upon him...by slave...by his own white wife." May Belle and her daughter Rue lived in a cabin they shared alone "a privilege to be sure". Miss May Belle birthed every baby at Marse Charles [her master's] plantation. Marse asked if May Belle was teaching her daughter Rue "her knowledge"...[It] keeps my child in his ownership and I make her worth the owning."

Rue learned the art of healing within the time frame of the Civil War. At this time, Rue was often "off mischiefing" with Miss Varnia, the red-headed daughter of the plantation owner. May Belle was soon to give up midwifery and healing. She "...stopped wanting to touch mamas or their baby joy"...after her man was hanged. Rue routinely delivered babies and tended the sick.

Slavery had ended. "Freedom had come after the war for all black folks. All excepting Rue,...for she was born to healing and stuck to it for life...a secret curse of her own making...just as easy as folks praise came, it could turn to hating...magic and faith were fickle...". Bean was "a seemingly accursed baby" delivered by Rue ..."a devil...she made...in the woods from river water, from clay...a haint and blight against the townspeople...distrust heaped upon him, as soon as he blinked open his bean-black eyes...".

"Conjure Women", a debut novel by Afia Atakora, describes the life of Rue, born into slavery, taught the art of healing and birthing by her mother, May Belle. Schooled in the old ways in times of slavery, during the Civil War, Rue was ill prepared for post-war freedom. "...Freedom was a word with weights. It meant deciding to stay or to go". Author Atakora masterfully paints a picture of Varnia, the Southern belle, Black-eyed Bean, and travelling preacher Bruh Abel as well. I highly recommend this work of historical fiction.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group-Random House and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "Conjure Women".

This book was magnificent! The author is a masterful storyteller and I'm really surprised that this is her first novel. The characters were fully developed and so was the environment in which this story took place. I found myself mesmerized by how the events unfolded. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is certainly what I would call a "must-read"!

This review was made possible thanks to Net Galley.

I thought that if I allowed myself to wait a few hours between finishing this book and reviewing it I would be able to articulate how a book could be both anti-climatic while also very engaging; however after twelve hours of letting Conjure Women stew I still pinpoint that one specific element that makes this book worth the sum of its parts, even if you leave the table hungry (Food analogy, bear with me.)

This is the debut novel of Afia Atakora and it follows the story of "Miss Rue" in a non-sequential history of the plantation she lives on before, during and after the Civil War.

Truth be told, I don't often read books set before or right after slavery because after taking African American Lit and African American Women's History in college I just couldn't stomach the material. Writing about slavery, specifically about Black women in slavery, means that one way or another you have to talk about sexual abuse and degradation...but Atakora handles it in such a way that is clear without being explicit. You know what's happening to Rue's mother and you know what's happening to other women, but you don't have pages of brutal rape scenes and for that, I am very grateful.

And what can be said of the story? Well, when it started I thought it was about one thing and as I continued to move through it I realized that it was about many things. I don't want to spoil them here (this book isn't set for publication until 2020) but I will say that for most of this novel, I never trusted Rue as a character. This isn't to say that I thought she was malevolent, or bad; it's just that something about the character's movements and point of view always felt hidden. Like underneath the lie you knew she was telling, there was many more that the story had yet to reveal.

To that point, the only disappointing thing about this story are the "secrets." I suppose due to that first "story" I expected this novel to be about Rue coming up against some supernatural force but that's not it. This is about Rue coming up against the repercussions of slavery and dealing with the power of freedom. She's "free" but won't leave her plantation....and I can't reveal all that that means here, but knowing what slavery means and meant, some of the things you find out aren't as impactful because (and I hate to say it) that's what slavery as an institution did.

It forced you to make choices you wouldn't otherwise have made, suddenly being made "free" doesn't erase what you've been brought up in or the physical, emotional and psychological prisons you've been held captive to.

I can't say much more without going into spoilers, so I'll end with this: Conjure Women is a stunning debut. There are some hiccups here and there and the end may leave readers confused or slightly unsatisfied, but on the whole, I highly recommend this book and will most definitely add it to my library.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of five

This book is definitely in the running for my favorite book of the year, hell I think it IS my favorite book of the year. Definite 5/5 from me.
Thank you to Netgalley for hooking me up with an ARC of this great novel, that I don't know I would have heard of otherwise.

'Conjure Women' follows Rue throughout her childhood and adulthood, seeing her mother being a healer and her own later attempts at trying to be the new healer. Of course nothing is easy and plot happens.

There are a few chapters that are told from her mother's perspective, but they are few in number. The chapters do alternate with one in the past and one in the 'present' of Post-Civil War. The past sections do slowly catch up to the 'present' and the closer it gets the more you're able to see just how things got this way. Rue feels like she is losing the ability to work miracles and there is outside pressure that might make everyone lose their new homes once again.

This is more literary than fantasy, and while magic does exist in this book I think it definitely swings more towards the folk magic direction than what most people think of when they think of magic. It didn't affect my rating, but I feel like I should clarify that for people looking at reviews.

Our MC, Rue, is delightfully complex and she feels like a real person put into page form. Her relationships both in her childhood and adulthood feel the same. They all have ups and downs, and both feel like they could be part of a real relationship. The timeline of events also makes sense and marches at such a pace that I never found myself confused about the way things happened, besides when it was intentional for you to be a bit lost. (Mostly when it comes to reveals that happen in the second half)

The book is plotted so well that the twists just keep getting revealed and you're slowly piecing together the story or what happened, and what is going to happen after. The only dull moment might be towards the beginning, but I wouldn't even count that as slow. There is enough intrigue built up right away that you want to find out more, and more secrets just keep coming and before I knew it I was totally sucked in.

This was an incredible read and I just finished it today and I already want to read it all over again.

Could not put this book down.Stark and gritty details of slavery before and after The Civil War.
Some of it almost painful to read but you just can’t stop.
The story is about Rue and about her mother Maybelle,Maybelle is a healer on a plantation to the slaves and after her death Rue carried on that tradition.There is a dash of the mystical in their healing.
This is a book to savor.I’m a speed reader and I read at a pretty fast clip but even I had to slow down and enjoy every word.
Thankyou Netgalley and Random House for this ARC

This is a very female-led book. It's very outspoken, with intense themes going on throughout nearly the entirety of the book. The writing is a bit "difficult" for lack of a better term. Sometimes I found myself having to reread sections as I didn't know what I just read. I want to say that this is magical realism, as there's something mystical also at play as we follow the story but not outright magical. It's a very good story, but I found myself having to space this out. I couldn't keep myself engaged for very long periods of time as it's very dense. If you want a quick read, this book definitely isn't it. If you want to take your time and really digest all the information, then this may be a good pick.

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora is a haunting and mesmerizing historical fiction set in the South during the Civil War Era.

The novel focusses on Miss May Belle and her daughter Miss Rue in rotating chapters thus also exposing the reader to two generations of African American Women during their years as slaves on a plantation, as well as the years immediately following encompassing the aftermath of “freedom”.

There were several things that I loved about this novel.
1. I loved the alternate viewpoint of Rue and her mother and the Author’s stunning ability to interweave different two different characters and life stories in two different time frames in what seems to be in a random pattern, but in fact is purposefully laid out to slowly unfold therefore, allowing the reader to piece together the intricate puzzle into a glorious masterpiece.
2. I loved the imagery, culture, and the dialect. I literally felt as if I was there. The rich and exquisite culture of Rue’s village was breathtaking.
3. The strength and heart that was needed to do justice to innocent lives permanently affected. It was hard to read some of the things that happened, but it is important to bring these trials to light and keep them on remembrance. I thank the Author for this privilege.

This is a stunning novel and I loved every moment of it.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this great ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

I almost feel I should apologize I found the language had to follow and I suspect it was due to a lack of knowledge both of historical context and the intensely strong subject matter. If you like stories with strong ,intense female characters this is the read for you. There is a sense of the mystical and scary throughout this tale. At its apex is the everyday life of slaves and all they did to survive. I confess it was the acceptance that I found hard to swallow but I was reading with a twenty-first century mind peeking in on people who didn’t need protecting just wanted to be allowed to get through their day. I was thankful for the experience in the end .

When I first completed CONJURE WOMEN, I rated the book 2 stars because I struggled to get through the book. The flow of the book seemed stunted with unexpected scene changes and oh so many characters. I understood the flashback between the mother Mae Bell and daughter Rue, But, when their individual tale, Rue may be at home talking to the minister and the next sentence, she is in the church talking to Varina with no explanation as to how that scene changed.

Two days later and I am still thinking about the characters and how the story was spun to come around full circle for all of the characters. If I am still engaged with the characterization, knowing I will never forget any of them, that’s a 5-star book. Only taking off the one star due to the cadence of the writing.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely LOVED this book! Conjure Women is Atakora's debut novel and includes elements of plantation and slavery life as well as magic, healing and all things in between. We are first introduced to Rue, who is a midwife/healer in a small town that mainly consists of recently freed slaves after the end of the Civil War. Throughout the story we gain a better understanding of Rue's life after the war and before the war with her mother who was also a midwife and healer. During her life after the war, Rue helps to deliver a little boy whom she names Bean. The town becomes convinced that Bean is cured and connects that back to Rue who in turn needs to earn back the faith and trust of the town.

Atakora masterfully transports the reader to pre and post Civill War times and holds nothing back when describing the harsh life of those during the Civil War. the stories of Rue and her mother May Belle were entrancing and I found myself not only getting lost within their stories and hardships, but I found myself investing in everyone else in the town. My heart broke for Bean. This was a bit of a heavy read, and while it wasn't a page turner in the way a good mastery or thriller is, it was enough for me to want to keep reading and know what happened next. This is a powerfully good read and I can not wait for 2020 so I can have in on my shelf!

Outstanding and beguiling debut novel! Atakora has pulled out all the stops in the engaging tale of life on a plantation, slavery, the Civil War, healing, magic, relationships, betrayal, and everything in between. I took my time reading this - rather than plow through it, I read a few chapters at at time - for this is a book to be savored, a unique delicacy that doesn’t come around too often. The plot centers around a mother and daughter, conjurers both, creating potions to birth, curse, wound, heal people and the community of a variety of maladies, real and/or imagined. The characters were well developed, the plot held my attention, and great narration (occasionally it was hard to know who was narrating at first). While some material may be disturbing, the author takes no prisoners in researching and describing a harsh life during the Civil War and the lives that revolved around it, for better or worse. I’ve read many books on the history of both the Civil War and slavery, but this book is unlike any I’ve read. Kudos to Atakora, and I look forward to reading more from this fabulous author. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.