A great coming of age story about a girl struggling with what it means to be a woman and to be truly free. I highly recommend this book.

« I saw my mother raise a man from the dead. ‘It still didn’t help him much, my love,’ she told me. But I saw her do it all the same. That’s how I knew she was magic." » The man had arrived at the house in a coffin so heavy it took 3 people to pull the coffin off from the cart. It had arrived at dusk, late. They were supposed to arrive around midnight which would have been safer. The man, Mr. Ben, was an escaped slave who had been drugged for the trip to freedom. Though not a main character, Mr. Ben’s becomes a part of the free Black community in Brooklyn and plays an important role in Libertie's life.

Libertie's mother, Dr. Sampson, is a no nonsense, hard working doctor, who quietly grieves for her lost husband while caring for the people of their waterfront town. Her sister had died because the white doctor was in no hurry to treat a little girl who saw too dark. According to Lenore, “Your mama became a doctor because she watched her sister die.” She is based upon Susan Smith McKinney Steward a woman who became the first Black woman doctor during Reconstruction and who lived in a community of free Blacks in Brooklyn. Libertie’s father, Robert, an escaped slave and traveling preacher who died when she was still in the womb.

As she gets older, Libertie becomes her mother’s assistant but she is resentful of her mother’s singleminded and constant attention to her work. Like the woman on whose life she is based on, her mother, with the support of women in her community, opens a hospital for women. She sends Libertie to Cunningham College in Ohio to become a doctor like her.

Libertie wants to become her own woman, but does not know what that is. When she’s sent to college to study medicine she flounders in her classes and doesn’t find a path until she meets two women whose singing transports her. She decides to become their agent and brings them home at the end of the school year and arranges concerts for them.

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge is an absolutely beautiful book.

I love the feeling and meaning behind the story of Libertie and her mother but found the story telling a little flat.

Such a poignant, intriguing book about a young girl who helps her mother--who is a doctor--bring people "back to life." Libertie is young when she first begins to understand why people are showing up at her home in coffins, but they are not dead. Instead, her mother and her mother's friends are helping ex-slaves and other black people escape from the wrath of white people in the North. When her mother decides to build and open a hospital specifically for black women, Libertie believes she is destined to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a doctor herself. But when her mother begins taking in white women as patients, Libertie sees that nothing has changed in the dynamic between black and white people. And then, she falls in love. I truly enjoyed this book. The relationship between Libertie and her mother is one that I think most women could identify with--her mother wants her to be like her, Libertie wants to set her own path. This was truly a beautiful book.

I was completely riveted from the first page. Libertie is a fully realized and unique historical fiction novel that will appeal to readers who don't necessarily read that genre.

The story of Libertie as she grows up in reconstruction era in New York. Rich in historical references and memorable characters. Her mother, noted for being a black female physician, struggles with raising her daughter to follow in her footsteps. Well written and interesting.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

Historical fiction at its finest 💫⁣
⁣
LIBERTIE is a coming of age novel set in Reconstruction era New York. We follow Libertie Sampson as she discovers her own dreams and identity while under the tutelage of her mother, one of the first practicing Black female physicians in the United States. ⁣
⁣
While I’m not usually one for historical fiction, I’m all for it when it’s this good. Not only is there depth to every character introduced, but the prose is gorgeous and historical details richly developed. I did lose some steam towards the middle, though, and wished there were a few more plot developments. ⁣
⁣
Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the eARC. I’m hoping that a few years from now we see LIBERTIE integrated as a core novel in middle and high schools 🤞⁣
⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Libertie is a young girl living in Brooklyn, New York during Reconstruction. Free from slavery in the north, her mother is the first black female physician and starts the first black hospital in the area. This book had all the makings of extraordinary historical fiction but I could not get past 30%. The story felt scattered and although I admired the mother's position, she herself was not a character I liked. The man her mother helps right at the very beginning is obsessed with his dead wife and this thread which is repetitive is confusing and seems off track. It could have been a timing issue for me or the writing style and I may pick this up again in the future.

"But we must work hard and be good even in freedom. That's what you telling me. With rules like that, don't it make you wonder what freedom's for."

Libertie is a historical fiction book written in New York in the Reconstruction Era. Race and slavery is still very much a part of everyone's lives, but a woman 'passing' as white can heal people of both colors. Here lies a story that is based on an actual person, but we get to focus on the doctor and her daughter. Libertie is born free but she is dark and will never pass like her mother has been. But her mother is a bright, practicing doctor/healer that wants her to study medicine along side her to heal those that would otherwise not be able to. Libertie really only wants the attention of her mother.

The first part of the story was a slow build, but I felt like I could see where these women lived and the people that they healed in a small room. We get Libertie in her childhood and learning what her mother does for the people of their area. I call Libertie's mother a healer because we are shown some alternative ways she cares for others. It would be more modern day naturopath with a pinch of witchcraft with all the herbs. When Libertie is old enough, her mother sends her to college to learn medicine. While the other girls are learning how to take care of a home and taking 'appropriate women type classes', Libertie is taking classes with men and learning about medicine. But her heart pulls her in another direction and soon she falls for the art of music and two girls who become her friend. This is when the story gets turned all upside down. Her mother does not know about this new found passion, but is pulling Libertie to return home and practice medicine with her and her new student, Emmanuel.

Libertie is a story of growing up and coming of age and being able to make ones own choices when getting out from under your parent's thumb. But the major themes lie in the time this book is set. We deal with race, gender and colorism. And Libertie only wants true freedom. Freedom from all those things. When she is given the opportunity that she is looking for, she takes it with great haste. But is true freedom even a thing?

I enjoyed following Libertie's journey from childhood, to college and then onto marriage. Even though this story takes place well over 100 years ago, we can still find parallels into life now. I liked the way we got to see an alternative medicine and a black woman practicing medicine during a very different time, but I wish Libertie would've handled a few things better instead of running away. I didn't feel like she was running towards something as much as she was running away from something else. I can only hope at the end, she deals with those issues head on and only then will she get to fight for the true freedom she was looking for.

Libertie is a true testament to what people were fighting for and still fighting for. I enjoyed the pacing of the second half more than the first half because the first half seemed to drag on a bit much. But the second half left me a little disappointed in Libertie's actions. That's not to say that I was pleased with her mother's actions, but more that I didn't really agree with what brought Libertie to marriage and Haiti. And life in Haiti? It was a little weird and had me questioning everyone there. The sister, the town folk and the father. And I'm still not even sure about Emmanuel. Maybe an opportunity for a sequel or a series? Overall, I enjoyed this story that obviously had quite a bit of research done on the time and people. The characters grew with the story and you could feel that with the strong familial tension throughout between Libertie and her mother. I'm curious if this book will continue on into a series. It definitely has the potential to.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. I really thought this was going to be a book I fell in love with, but it just didn’t happen. The first 70% of the book was mind-numbingly slow. Nothing happened and the character development wasn’t strong enough to make up for the slow pace. Greenidge writes beautifully and I will definitely give her other novel a try. This one just was not for me.

This haunting historical tale follows the daughter of an African American healer, from her childhood near the outbreak of the Civil War to a marriage in Haiti. Libertie is expected to follow in her mother's profession, but that's not where her heart lies. Abandoning medical school, she embarks on a marriage that seems to promise freedom from the constraints of her old life. She finds instead another kind of yearning to be free of constraint--this time of the patriarchal kind. Libertie's determined quest for freedom propels the story, through close escapes with the Underground Railroad to the New York Draft Riots to what seems to be a promised haven of liberation in Haiti. The plot is a bit muddled in the first part of the novel, perhaps reflecting Libertie's entanglement with her mother. The story, and the character, come into focus when she achieves some degree of freedom, off on her own in medical school, and then in her new life abroad. Fans of historical fiction, and especially those interested in the lives of free Blacks in the 19th century, will find much to appreciate here.

Thanks to @AlgonquinBooks and #NetGalley for making this advanced reader copy available in exchange for my honest opinion.

"Their need was monstrous."

It wasn't only the barn cats that frightened Libertie by their demands and needs. Every one seemed to want something from her.

First, her mother, a free, black, homeopathic doctor who determined that Libertie would follow into her career. Her mother was deemed a saint, caring for the whole world, secreting slaves into freedom, and healing black and white alike.

Libertie was overwhelmed by the diseases of the body, but it was the diseases of the mind that most troubled her soul, including the unrequited love of a newly freed slave, and the broken people who gathered in a back room, free but never safe from the trauma of their past. Her mother's cures could not heal broken spirits.

Libertie's light-skinned mother was allowed to touch the white women's bodies, but they flinched at Libertie's touch. She was Black Girl. How could her mother minister to the people who hated them for the war? How could her mother ignore history for the sake of money?

During the Civil War, the women gathered to create a hospital, and Libertie felt the power of their communal energy. She learned from their example how to scheme to right a wrong world.The world felt full of possibilities and Libertie marveled over her choices.

Libertie was sent to college where she first experienced the world outside of her mother. She hoped to forge her own path. She hated the medical coursework, and her classmates were 'colorstruck' against her.

Music saved her; hearing two girls singing, she presents herself as their pupil. Singing, her soul soared. But she discovers the girls have a special relationship that can never include her.

Returning home, Libertie meets the recent medical school graduate working under her mother, the light skinned, straight haired, Haitian, Emmanuel. He weaves stories of a beautiful country ruled by Negroes, a place where blacks can be truly free.

Emmanuel enchants Libertie with his stories of the Haitian African gods still worshiped, although attacked by his Bishop father. He proclaims to believe in 'companionate marriage,' a modern understanding. She accepts his marriage proposal. She had failed as a daughter, as a medical student; perhaps she would find herself as a wife and mother.

Haiti is beautiful, but is not the paradise she had imagined. Emmanuel's family resents her, and she discovers a double standard that her husband is complicit in maintaining.

In her quest to discover who she is, to find real freedom, Libertie finds herself boxed in by expectations and limited choices, until she finds the courage to take control of her destiny.

Every generation must find its own way, every woman pushes against the societal, familial, and political forces that bind her. Libertie's story is set in the past, but her story will be recognized by young women today. What does it mean to forge your own path, to be free to be yourself? How do we discover who we really are in a world of demands?

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

An atmospheric and unique look at the Reconstruction era in New York and Haiti. Libertie grows up with one of the first black female doctors in New York in a time where freedom from slavery adds a responsibility to achieve. Libertie's mother assumes her daughter will follow in her footsteps so that is the path that Libertie starts on but when she falls in love with a quiet man from Haiti she chooses to follow his path instead. Once in Haiti Libertie must deal with a world very different from the one she left behind as well as the pain and grief of leaving her mother and her mother's dream behind.
This will appeal to readers of Black history as well as those interested in rich cultural historical fiction. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

9781616207014

336 Pages
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Release Date: Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, 1800s, Brooklyn, Haiti, Voodou,

Libertie sees her mother bring a man back from the dead or so she thinks. Really, the man was a slave being smuggled to a free area in New York. Her mother is the first Black woman doctor in the area. She is very light skinned and could pass as white. Libertie on the other hand is very dark like her father.

She helps her mother in the clinic and later at the hospital. She begins noticing how the whites and colors are treated differently and it bothers her. She feels her mother caters to the wealthy white women when she would be helping more colored women. You can feel the strain and tension building between mother and daughter throughout the book.

This book is inspired by the life of Susan Smith McKinney Steward, one of the first Black female doctors in the United States. The story has a steady pace and moves through Libertie’s life to young adulthood. It is written in first person point of view and the characters are developed. I enjoyed this book and a peek into the past. The book ends in a way that leaves it open to a possible sequel.

Libertie is a sweeping historical fiction novel inspired by the life of Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Steward, the country’s third black woman physician and the first in the state of New York. Author Kaitlyn Greenidge imagines the legacy that such a powerful woman would leave behind and centers her novel on her daughter, Libertie, who tries to fill those shoes. The result is an absolutely gorgeous story, set in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn and Haiti, that really challenges readers’ ideas about identity, what freedom means as a black woman, and mother and daughterhood.

I included this in my preview of winter and spring titles for Book & Film Globe: https://bookandfilmglobe.com/fiction/seven-books-to-look-forward-to-in-2021/

Thanks to Algonquin and NetGalley for the ARC.

Book: Liberte
Author: Kaitlyn Greenidge
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Algonquian Books, for sending me an ARC.

This is another one of those books that I find very difficult to rate. On the one hand, I really enjoyed it, but, yet, there was also something missing from it. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy most of it, but there were parts that I honestly felt were missing that special something to really bring home the point. I thought that it had a strong beginning and middle, but found the ending to really be lacking something. We had all of this great built up, but when we actually got into the end and wrapping things up, it was just missing something. It didn’t have that punch that I needed in order for it to really bring it home. I just walked away feeling that it was missing what it needed to have that punch. You can’t have a strong beginning and middle and miss the mark on the ending. Honestly, it just felt the ending was kind of rushed-now that I’m thinking about it.

I really did enjoy the characters. We don’t have a large cast of characters, which has given the author a chance to really flesh them out and gives us a chance to really bond with them. I did enjoy Liberte’s point of view and character a lot. We get to see her throughout her entire life. We see her starting out as a child and being molded to fit the role that her mother wants her to have. We see her as she grows start to think that they may not be the life that she wants and starts to reflect on what she really wants. I like getting to her form friendships and fall in love. We also have a deep look into mother-daughter relationships. We get to see how that relationship can change with time and how it’s okay not to live the life that your mother wants for you. That sounded really bad, but we get to see that you have to be your person and not the person that your mother wants you to be. It gets really messy in the process of this discovery.

The writing is what really had me hooked very early on. Kaitlyn writes in a way that really pulls at my heart. It will get to you. You will feel what these characters are going through. I love this. I love feeling deep feelings whenever I read a book. This means that I am fully enjoyed in what is going on and I need more. I just feeling all of the feelings when I am reading.

Anyway, I had a good time with this one. I think that had the ending been fleshed out a little bit more, it would had been a five star rating for me.

This one comes out on March 30, 2021.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/5WWKsKkzizo

With elegant prose and lush imagery, Kaitlyn Greenidge transported me to Reconstruction-era Brooklyn and Libertie, the daughter of a female black doctor who grapples with what it means to truly be free as a Black woman born in America. A story of a mother's love for her daughter mixed with a touch of magical realism. Greenidge showed me a unique (to me) perspective of varied opinions of Black Americans on life after enslavement Libertie would be a perfect reading companion to Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Highly recommend to fans of literary historical fiction.

Libertie’s story begins in a Black neighborhood in Brooklyn where she lives with her mother, the first Black woman doctor. Her mother is totally devoted to healing and looks forward to the day when she and Libertie can practice medicine side by side. At first Libertie idolizes her mother, but as she comes of age, she is unsure of her own desires, even of her mother’s love. Libertie makes her own choices and ends up married to a Haitian man. Upon moving with him to Haiti, she discovers that freedom for a woman is not at all what she expected.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Libertie is growing up during the Reconstruction era, training under her mother, a black physician.

This book started out interestingly enough, but as it went on it got slower, and more boring, and then uncomfortable, then annoying, and then kid of infuriating. And the ending was pretty dissatisfying for me. I just really need a strong female character and Libertie didn't really make any choices for herself until the last couple pages, but then it just ended.

Trigger warnings: the n words, sexual assault, victim shaming.

I found the writing pedestrian and the pacing long. The story of Libertie and her growth was less interesting than the idea of her mother being a Black female physician in the 1800's. Or even the support her mother and Madame Elizabeth gave to escaping slaves.