Book of the Little Axe is told in two primary times/settings. The novel opens in 1830 with Victor, son of a Trinidadian woman and a Crow chief, in Bighorn, Montana. Victor is coming of age and trying to figure out his place in the world as a mixed race son, split between two cultures. As he is set to go through his transition into adulthood, he is stymied by the secrets of the past that his mother has kept from him. The second begins in 1796 in Trinidad, and we are introduced to Rosa Rendón (Victor’s mother) as a young child, and her years growing up with her family in Trinidad, where she refused to conform to the natural path of womanhood (cooking and keeping house), preferring instead to work the land and raise/care for the horses. Both time periods are threaded through with the violence against women (and Black women in particular) inherent in the Western hemisphere. And these stories are given additional framework by a third voice, that of Creadon Rampley, a trapper and guide, whose travels across the Western states and Trinidad brings him into both Rosa and Victor’s lives.

Well, this was sweeping. The writing is superb, and the atmosphere and sense of place are just stunning. The open and wild spaces of the “big sky country,” and the land and voices of Trinidad, just came alive. The narration of all three perspectives were also so individual and brought such a strong, distinct presence to the page, fully fleshed out on their own and in conjunction with each other. There is a simmering intensity to the story that you mostly miss while reading, (because, if I’m being really honest, it felt like quite a slow read that I felt sort of un-invested in, in the moment, until I reached the final third…and I don’t know if I would have gotten to that point without the audiobook to more me forwards). But, after finishing, I realized how heavy it was sitting with me; how weighed down I became throughout these characters’ journeys and how much they did, in fact, affect me.

I found the settings to be really fascinating, both alone and in combination. This is a time period that I have not read a lot of historical fiction set within (in fairness to myself, I only intermittently read historical fiction, so there’s that), and so I absolutely had never considered the way these places/peoples might overlap and interact. I learned a lot about the transition of imperial powers in Trinidad (from Spanish to English colonizers) and the way that affected the lives of people living there, especially Black people. But even in the West/Midwest, which I do have a bit more knowledge of (if only whatever limited POVs were covered in school in history classes), this book did an absolutely fabulous job highlighting the confluence of identities that are separately suppressed, and all but unknown combined. There was an intermingling of historical Black and Native and multiracial voices, a critical and educational addition to historical fiction narratives. And these were given even greater context with the inclusion of Rampley’s perspective, as he learns (with the reader alongside him), that even with how much was stacked against him (and the violence he too experienced), he was still in a place of greater privilege that Rosa.

That’s a thing that really stuck out to me throughout this read, actually, the pervasiveness of the casual violence across this historical fiction. It was intense and horrifying when you consider it, but was woven so smoothly in as each character took it more or less “in stride.” It really makes one consider how the violence in our present day is considered and taken in that same stride, and how readers will see it when it too becomes historical fiction. Ooof. Other themes that held throughout were an interrogation of “who are your people and where is your home” and if you can belong to more than one people/community fully, or if being split between automatically makes you less of each. There was also a strong look at what makes a family, blood or those who have your best interests at heart, if they are not one and the same. Francis-Sharma also explores the harsh truths of what a person must do to survive (including what they’ll willingly overlook or misunderstand), and what kind of people can afford to have greater principles in the face of hardship/struggle/survival.

While the blurb makes it seem like this novel is all about Rosa, and I suppose it does follow her and/or the people most closely related to her, I found this to be more of a full cast sort of reading experience. And I liked that, honestly, because it provided a much wider context in which I could experience this new period and time of history. I feel like I got a fuller sense of culture and tradition and reality with the wider range of narrative perspectives. Although this was a slower read, so I would caution prospective readers to be aware of that, it was rich and deeply imagined. The way Rosa’s life unfolded, along with those around her, provided a lot of background, and awareness of lesser known aspects of, the breadth African diaspora…and the way that interacted with indigenous (and similarly displaced/colonized) peoples as well. A fascinating and educational read that, while I may not have been ready for (pacing/attention-wise), I nevertheless, objectively, truly appreciated.

Dnf @ 15%

I was looking forward to this one but right now my brain can’t handle the multiple POVs. I look forward to future books by this author

Historical fiction is by far my favorite genre and though I enjoyed learning more about the historical west and Native American culture., I found this book quiet slow.

This is a plot driven book that alternates between 2 timelines, both telling the story of Rosa Rendón. One story is of her and her family in Trinidad, and the other is of her and her son, Victor in North America. Also there is the story of Credon Rampley.
Both stories converge to ultimately tell the tale of the Little Axe that failed a big tree.
While Rosa has always been part of a tribe, she has also been her own person within them.
Born to Caribbean parents- her mother, Myra from Martinique a French colony, and her father, Demas from Trinidad while it was a Spanish colony, she was more like her father in every way that counted. All of the small things that make her unique within her familial tribe are all of the things that ultimately make the greatest impact on her life. She doesn’t look anything like her mother, sister, and brother but just like her father. Like her father, a descendant of enslaved Africans, she is dark skinned, while her mother and siblings are light. She prefers to speak mostly Spanish like her father while her mother and siblings prefer French. She has little to no interest in being a homemaker or wife and this causes major tension and conflicts between all of the family members. In every way that she can Rosa is rebelling against the life that men have decided she should have.
Forced to flee her home and everything she knows and loves with a man that she is unsure of, Rosa has now carve out a life while also dealing with the trauma and grief that caused her departure.
Once in a new land, Rosa had to learn quickly to survive and has to make the best decisions for not only herself, but now her son Victor,
This is a very insightful story that helps to piece together how some of our ancestors came from the Caribbean to North America not necessarily directly through slavery. Though we have learned historically about the oppression and abuse that has happened within the Caribbean islands during the 1800 & 1900’s I think it’s still important that historical fiction gives people voices to tell stories. I think that Sharma does a great job of doing just that in this novel and after reading this, I crave to learn more about colonialism throughout the Caribbean.

Thank you to the author Lauren Francis-Sharma, the publisher Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my candid opinion.

I thought that I would enjoy this book a whole lot more. It is a historical fiction about African descendants who landed in the Caribbean as slaves and their journey to freedom....of sorts.

The book had an interesting story to tell, but it ping ponged back and forth from several plot lines....one with black members of an American Indian tribe, another of a free black society in Trinidad, and one white/American Indian northern trapper.

It is a great topic for a book--- I guess that I just had trouble with the actual story line.

I was very eager to read this book because part of the story was set in my home country of Trinidad (it was not yet Trinidad and Tobago at the time of the novel). The story was set around the time of transition from the Spanish occupation of the island to the British, which was an era I knew nothing about. The other half was set in the US in the 1830’s.

The structure of the novel jumps back and forth from the perspectives of different characters at different times, which I think works for the telling of the story in the end, but there were times it was a little confusing. I also felt that this was a novel that moved very slowly for at least the first two thirds of the book. The reward for sticking with it came in the latter third when the pace picked up and we ultimately come to some sort of resolution.

The first half of the novel features the Rendon family and their lives in Trinidad as a free people of colour. The main protagonist is the daughter Rosa, who is willful, independent, and feels curtailed by her role as a woman in a time when she cannot live as freely as she wishes. The theme of seeking freedom is one that follows throughout the book, as well as that of the limitations placed on us by gender.

The time in Trinidad focuses on the family dynamics at play as well as the tensions caused by race and colonialism. I really enjoyed reading about the family as a whole. They were loving and complicated and profoundly messy. They felt very real to me. I also really enjoyed the historical aspect of this part of the book because it was informative and fascinating. Unfortunately some of the issues such as colorism and racism still play out here today.

Rosa eventually leaves Trinidad and settles in the US, living among the Apsáalooke tribe (what we call the Crow today) raising her family. Over time we come to learn the story of how and why she left Trinidad and how her journey brought us to where she is today. Less time is spent on her life and relationships here and I feel that the story fails to give us a clearer understanding of the bigger picture. As a reader I felt that I was asked to accept certain things that left me questioning, or to simply fill in the blanks for myself. Certain relationships needed to be explored in more depth to explain their significance.

That said, I really enjoyed this book. Reading it was such an immersive experience and it stayed with me for some time after. I would definitely recommend it with the encouragement to stick with it. It will reward you in the end.

Patriarchy and colonialism force strong-willed, 18th-century Trinidadian Rosa Rendon eventually to the Crow Nation in Bighorn, Montana. Circumstances cause her to take her son back to her beginning, both of them outsiders everywhere. This is a tale of what happens when strangers dictate the life of a young woman with an independent mind, a woman who becomes a fierce mother. It's a good read, an excellent portrayal of fighting against cultural norms and bracing historical eras. I recommend it. I also recommend researching the cultures and peoples in the story. I received a digital copy from the publisher Atlantic Monthly Press through NetGalley.

Book of the Little Axe

This is the story of a family. . .and how it comes to be and as it travels across continents. Because the two main stories of mother and son, with two options for the father are not joined until midway through the book, and jumps back and forth through time, it took me a long time to figure this out. Once I did, I was invested in staying to the end and understanding who and how these characters journeyed through life.

A reader gets a smattering of history of the Apsaalooke (Crow) nation, and of the island of Trinidad (transition from Spanish rule to English) along with the areas of what is now known as northern Idaho, northeastern Washington, and Montana. The tribe takes in the wanderers from Trinidad, and from there the story of Victor (who is Little Axe) unfolds with all its secrets, twists and turns. Victor is the main character, but the hero and heart of the book is his mother, Rosa, with strong supporting roles from the men in her life.

The author, through her pen, does a compelling job of taking a reader first into the island flora and tempestuous seasides of Trinidad, and then forests, underbrush, dicey cliffs and outcroppings of the landscapes of the story. As the characters moved from place to place, I felt the grit and dust, the sand between my toes, and the muddy trails compromising each footfall.

Just a warning about triggering potential as there are rapes and other violence that occurs from time to time in the narrative.

As I closed in on finishing the book, I stayed up until sunrise, and wept at the end of the journey, and that profound “we is we.” After all is said and done, I hope my family gathers itself together, evoking in a like manner that connection binding us all through time and space and experience. The author captures a description of “home” in a pure arrow that drove itself straight in my heart, a combination of words and concept I will never be able to shake:

. . .for he knew now that home was something that couldn’t be denied him; home was not one place but rather it was one experience after another, one memory after another, which left one feeling as if one had become more of who one was to become. And Victor understood he had been a fortunate young man after all. A young man of many homes.

A sincere thanks to Lauren Francis-Sharma, Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review!

I liked the teaser of the book, the history & drama. It took me a while to read as I had to keep coming back to it- because sometimes the story starts in the middle and jumps in the timeline and during this time (C19 and all the tension) it's tough to concentrate. It was really painful to read about the oppression, upheavals, family angst, and prejudice that has been our human legacy. Did I like one of the main characters? NO, but only an obstinate person with that kind of strength could have survived.

This is an epic tale. It spans decades, crosses cultures, terrain and combines this with a rich historical background. The book begins with a teenage Black boy Victor and his best friend Like-Wind, hunting and playing in Bighorn territory. Raised among the Apsáalooke tribe in the 1830s, Victor is only minimally aware that he's Black and has yet to receive his vision unlike other young men of the tribe. He will need his mother Rosa, a Black woman with Trinidadian origins, to unearth truths about his history. Rosa’s story is that of free Black family’s fight for survival in Trinidad at the height of Spanish and subsequently English occupation in the early 19th century. The book goes back and forth from the late 1700s to the 1830s. ⁣⁣⁣
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Lauren Francis Sharma manages to connect threads of shared history between Native Americans, the history of slavery and Trinidadian history in this ambitious wide-ranging novel. It is a unique and impressive feat.⁣⁣⁣
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Though some may find it dense but the journey is worth the effort. An immersive experience, it is mystery mixed with historical fiction and a fantastical world-building element which makes the story come alive and ensures believability but also spurs on further research. ⁣⁣⁣
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The characters are nuanced and complex, exploring themes such as racism, colourism, familial and romantic relationships, with the mother-son dynamic at the fore. The discussion on other Black peoples' sometimes forced complicity in the machine that was slavery was thought-provoking and inspired just as complicated feelings. The writing is lyrical where it wants to be but mostly it is interrogative and challenging in the best ways.  The chapters feel like Acts in a play which is probably deliberate.  It is brutal and emotive in some aspects, and at other times just simply entertaining. ⁣⁣⁣
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Thanks to netgalley for the free e-ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I’m on the fence about this book. It was ok. Not really my cup of tea. It takes place from early 1800’s to mid 1830’s. It switches between the US territories - Indian land, and Trinidad. I’m not a huge fan of Indian stories but overall it had a good story which is why I gave it three stars. This would make a great book club read as there are a lot of topics I could see for discussion and debate. For instance - who was the main character in this book? One could make a case for 3 different characters and honestly I don’t think there is a right answer. Which makes this great writing in my eyes.

Small axe falls big tree.... and I think this book did such a great job of putting together small plots, with rich character that made for an unforgettable blend. I can say I have never read a book that features a Trinidadian native who ends up living with the people of Crow Nation. The entire time I was reading I kept wondering, “how did Rosa end up here?” and that for me was an added thrill, how would the author make this happen? To see that unfold was beautiful.

I felt enveloped in this experience of reading this book. I did not want to it to end, I wanted more. There are so many things I loved about this book including:

- Living in Trinidad and Tobago for over 6 years, it was great reading a historical fiction that perfectly captures what life was like for a free black family living under the Spanish reign and how that family’s life changed with the Spanish reign.

-I loved hearing about life in Trinidad back in the 1700’s it felt authentic and rich.

- As someone who loves travelling, I have always thought about what it would be like to travel in the 1800s and I think the author did an amazing job of capturing this. I felt I was on the journey with Rosa.

-The theme of colourism and race was expertly explored. There were a lot of uncomfortable moments, cringey to be honest, but it all made the experience even richer.

-To see a country go from Spanish to British rule and how that impacted the lives of the people living in the country- that was an immersive experience for me that I absolutely enjoyed. One day you speaking Spanish and the next day you are required to learn and write English… colonialism yes

-Family dynamics and relationship were so nuanced and rich. The characters were flawed, they made decision that weren’t right but you still rooted for them.

Honestly, I can go on and on about how great this book is but I will stop here. I have never read a book like this and I HIGHLY recommend it.

Book of the Little Axe is a sweeping novel that covers the story of three generations of a family from Trinidad. The Rendon family story begins in Trinidad and then moves to North America, where Rosa Rendon moves after events in her home country. Trinidad is a beautiful island and the descriptions will leave the reader wanting to go see it.

Rosa Rendon is a very strong female lead character. She’s not afraid to speak her mind. She has a tendency to remind those around her that she’s just as good at some things as the men are. Sometimes, the men take offense at her attitude, but she sticks to her beliefs. Rosa is a role model that girls today can look up to. During her time though, that boldness could get her in trouble. Rosa is the daughter of Demas Rendon, who is a free Black land-owner and blacksmith. He also runs their farm and raises quality horses. Rosa prefers to work with the horses and with her Papa rather that do the housework or cooking that her sister does. She really hates that kind of work.

Trinidad was under control of the Spanish, and then the English came, took over, and colonized. That’s when things started to change for the Rendon family. They lost more and more as the years wore on under English colonial laws. This part of the story was tough to read. As a reader, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. The colonizers liked to take the land from people whose countries were colonized (they had many unethical ways to do this), and I kept worrying that this would happen to the Rendon family. It was amazing how well the author told the story so that a reader begins to really care about a fictional family.

When events go bad at home, Rosa leaves Trinidad and travels to Oregon. She eventually ends up with the Apsáalooke (Crow) tribe. Her son, Victor, grows up there. He believes that a man named Edward Rose is his father. After a tragic event, Rosa and Victor leave the tribe and travel to Kullyspell, Oregon. Along the way, they are attacked. (There is a very tough scene to read here.) Once they arrive at the abandoned military post in Kullyspell, they both start to heal. Victor finds the diary of Creadon Rampley and learns more about his family’s history.

Through back flashes to the story of Rosa and her family in Trinidad, the tale works its way up to the current time period. Victor is learning of the events in 1830 in Oregon. However, the events in Trinidad go all the way back to the end of the 1700’s. Along the way, the reader will learn a lot of history of Trinidad. In those days, women were not allowed to own land, so Rosa could not inherit her father’s land. Over the years, he has worked hard to make a successful business. But, the English arrive and start changing laws and enacting taxes. The once-successful business falls on hard times. Rosa’s father, Demas, tries to find a husband for each of his two daughters, someone who he can trust to carry on his work and inherit the land to keep it in the family. But, there are many unscrupulous forces at work.

What I liked about this book

I thought that Rosa’s character was a very interesting and complex woman. She was strong-willed and independent. The story of her life on two continents was the main focus, but Victor learning his family history was also a big part of it. So, there were several concurrent storylines to follow. Including the narrations of Creadon Rampley, there were three interwoven stories. The author pulled it off well. It took me a couple chapters to solidify in my mind who each of the characters were and what their situations were, but once that was cleared up, the story just flowed well.


I liked how the historical events on Trinidad were seen through the experiences of the Rendon family. Rosa and her father are Black, but her mother is of mixed race. Her sister and brother look more like their mother. So, things go easier on them than on Rosa and her father. The reader learns a bit of the history of Trinidad and the various colonial takeovers and how that affected the people who called it home. It affected multiple generations of the families. This is not a history that we normally get to learn about so it was all new to me.

I really liked the scenes of Victor’s life with the tribe. I love that time period in history and always enjoy reading stories of that time.

What I didn’t like

I would have liked to know what happened to the Rendon family after Rosa’s departure. I was sad that the events led to the sudden breakup of the family. They tried so hard for so many years. I worried that bad things would happen to them and that Rosa would never see them again. I wanted there to be some resolution to their story too. As a reader, their story was important to me, as was that of Rosa and Victor. Perhaps there will be a sequel in which we can see what happens to them.

I never was able to figure out the complex relationships of the Rendon family with their neighbors and friends. Some of them seemed more like enemies than friends. Some seemed eager to find a way to take Demas’ land by whatever means. It’s like they wanted him to fail so that he could not pay taxes and end up forfeiting his land. I hoped for more clarity on those relationships, but maybe the confusion is the point. It must have felt confusing for the Rendon family to have to sort out the intentions of everyone around them all the time.

Overall impression

I enjoyed this book and found it detailed and complex. With three timelines to handle, the author juggled them quite well. At times, it can be difficult to read some of the incidents that happen to these characters. You really feel for them. The author made them come to life so well that you end up seeing them as real and not fictional characters. The thing is, they could have been real. There very well could have been families like the Rendons that experienced these things. That’s the thing about historical fiction. It brings the reader into that time period and immerses you in what it was like to live through these events. The author, Lauren Francis-Sharma, accomplished this very well.

Rosa Rendon, the daughter of a free-Black Trinidadian property owner, never fits into the 1790’s Trinidad. By 1830, she’s living with the Crow nation in what is now Montana. Married to a chief , she is raising mixed-race children. When her son grows up and comes across an old diary in Rosa’s belongings, he starts to realize why he cannot fit into the tribe and this takes the two of them on a journey reexplore her Caribbean past.

Book of the Little Axe is among the very best of historical novels. The author weaves alternating timelines (in the late 18th to early 19th centuries); alternating points of view (a boy who grew up among the Native Americans of the northwest, a young, free black Trinidadian woman, and a barely-literate guide and trapper); and alternating settings (from Montana and Hudson Bay Territory to Texas and Trinidad.)

It took me awhile to engage fully with the plot, but until then I was carried along by the beauty of the writing, and the strong, unique voice of each character. The patois of the Rendon family in Trinidad was powerfully persuasive.

But when Creadon Rampley comes on the scene, via his diary, I was hooked. His perspective, his backstory, his semi-literate yet expressive musings made me eager to discover how the stories of these three people would intersect.

If Rampley's was my favorite POV, the boy Victor's was the one I enjoyed least. Yet he is central to the story; in fact it is entirely his story. Rosa is a memorable character, who reminds us that we have many more assertive, iconoclastic women in our shared history than we know.

This is a well-researched, compelling book that compares with Annie Proulx's Barkskins, and that is high praise. Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advance readers copy.

I was the recipient of an ebook galley copy of Book of the Little Axe from NetGalley in return for an unbiased review. Beginning in Montana territory in 1830 with a black teenage boy named Victor on a hunt for meat with young Crow Indian warriors. It then shifts to 1796 Trinidad and Victor's mother's story of privilege under the French before the arrival and takeover by the English. Book of the Little Axe tells the story of the quest of Victor's motther, Rosa, for survival, independence, and her own personhood. The story shifts back and forth between the two times, locales, narrators, as well as a third narrator, Creadon Rampley, a young white man who comes to the island and at her father's direction assists Rosa in escaping her mother's greedy family, an unsavory marriage, and criminal charges by the English. The book details the lives of free blacks in Trinidad, the effects of English colonialism, Rosa's escape and trek to Montana, and her and her son's life with the Crow Indians. Interestingly Rosa has to escape from Trinidad and herr son has to leave the Crow tribe.

I didn't feel that I wasted time in reading the book, yet it is not a book that I would strongly recommend to others. I enjoyed that it was that it was about the Old West, which is my absolute favorite time period and location to read about, both fiction and non-fiction. I also appreciated learning about the lives of free blacks in the Caribbean during the French and English colonial periods, which I knew little to nothing about. I have to say that I finished the book not quite sure what message the author was trying to give. I went back and read all of the "Little Axe" quotes and still wasn't sure. I finally had to settle with the conclusion that the point was that Rosa lived her life the way she wanted.

Inside this novel are some beautiful scenes, interesting historical facts and a good story. However, there is so much going on in the whole of this book that the wonderful parts are a little hidden and hard to find.

Received this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley
This book is a saga about the life of a woman named Rose from Trinidad. How she grew up free and later became a slave. She then came to America, then living free again among native Americans in Bighorn.
I found the writing a bit overly dramatic and flat. It was of one tone that just went on with out inflection. Not sure why I could not get into the story but I did finish it.

An epic story of a woman who was born in the wrong time with the wrong skin and the wrong gender (as she describes herself), this book gives us a female equivalent of the legendary figures who settled the west. Rosa Rendon has a story every bit as unbelievable as Daniel Boone's or Kit Carson's.

The book is set in Trinidad and the American west in the early 19th century, amidst the conjunction of Africans - free and enslaved - native Americans, and Europeans. There is no simple black and white; almost every character is a hyphenated mixture of some sort (European-Native American, African-European, etc.), and the sequences in Trinidad, focused on a free African family trying to remain so in the face of Spanish/French/English competition, is heart-wrenching.

The book is well structured, told from three characters' viewpoints in a disjointed chronology; this is hard to do well, and the author pretty much nails it. The gender norms of the main characters are flipped. The female lead mostly has the emotional and narrative arc of the typical mountain man, and the male lead conforms mostly to feminine fictional tropes. This is unsettling in a good way.

While it's a fine story in simple narrative terms, it's also a strong light on our complicated racial past.

This book follows the character Rosa as a young girl in Trinidad to her married and living in Montana with the Apsáalooke tribe. I originally thought this would be a great read that I could possibly share with my students, however, I realized right away that it is not meant to share with my class (I teach 5th grade). The book is packed with a LOT of historical details, timelines changing back and forth, and a lot of very heavy events... that are realistic for the events of the time, however, they are pretty tough to read and definitely not appropriate for 5th graders (in my opinion). Although the story was a heavier read I felt it was very well written. If you are able to handle heavy events (rape, death, slavery, etc.) then this was a very interesting story that you would enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Atlantic Monthly Press, and Lauren Francis-Sharma for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.