A powerful, well-written, and evocative story of survival. I loved reading this book! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved this book! I could not put it down. Following the life of Maryam, a child who was captured into slavery and endured unimaginable horrors during her long life, was such an inspirational and real character. I loved her voice and I would recommend this story for anyone who loves historical fiction. 5 stars for sure! I received a free copy of this book from netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Things Past Telling tells the tale of a 112 year old African American. The story tells of Maryam who has been captured in African and became a slave. Since then, this story chronicles her life as a slave from the Caribbean to America. Maryam endured many hardships and injustices. However, she is a very strong woman. This book not only shows her as a slave but also as a mother. Therefore, Things Past Telling is a very moving and emotional novel. This novel lingers with the reader long after they have read the final page. I recommend this fans of Carolina Built, Island Queen, and The Tubman Command!

I've been a big fan of Sheila Williams since her very first book, and her writing just gets better and better. She has a wonderful knack for fascinating people and events, there is always something so Interesting going on. And what a character she has here in Little Bird/Maryam, and based on real people and real events (and oh, I would love to know more!). We follow Little Bird growing up in Africa, then stolen and dragged aboard a ship across the Atlantic. But in an unusual twist, the boat is captured by pirates - a Black pirate! - and Maryam finds temporary safety in the Caribbean and learns healing from the local wise woman. But Maryam has a long life ahead of her and pirates' lives are short. She is returned to slavery and over the years fights for love and home and family, but never forgets who she is. It is a riveting story, exciting, emotional, unexpected at times. Excellent character development, no stereotypes here, all well rounded and perfectly believable, good and bad alike. Williams must of done a great deal of research but it's seamlessly entered into the story, beautiful job. Highly recommend.
My copy was an eARC from NetGalley.

Powerful, emotional and beautifully written story. Wow. This story really touched me and will stick with me for a long time. Fabulous read. Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review.

This was an amazing story os survival, the author, Sheila Williams did a wonderful job of research to be able to write such a good book, I was heartbroken at times, Reading of all the hard things that Maryam, Mama Grace, goes through , she has to be one of the strongest women I've ever read about. Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to read a d review this book.

Things Past Telling by Sheila Williams
I thoroughly enjoyed this Historical Fiction newly released on March 15th.

Maryum born as “Little Bird” and given many names was captured by slave traders at the age of 11 years old, and is telling her story as Momma Grace at age 112. Maryum had to grow up way to young and witness far to much at such a young age. I’ve read many slave stories and this is by far my favorite.
It was a beautiful emotional story that will stay with you for a long time.

Thank you Netgalley and Amistad for the eARC in exchange of my honest opinion.

rating: 4.5/5

Things Past Telling is a story about a wowan's life story and how she ended up in Ohio. Maryam was born in West Africa when a slaver ship came to grab her people to bring them over to America. The slaver ship is then is taken over by pirates and Maryam works with the pirates for a stint. She learns so many things from them that she continues to carry with her when another slaver ship finally comes and grabs Maryam to America. She then lives as a slave on a plantation. She uses her skills that she learned from Marie Catherine to become a midwife and healer for people. This was an extraordinary tale of one woman's life story and what she had to do to survive. Maryam was an inspiration to read about. Thank you to Netgalley and Amistad Press for giving me a ARC of the book. This is definitely a story I will continue to think about.

Danger, love and safety are lost and found repeatedly in this fictional autobiography that opens in 1870 with the census taker filling out his form. An old Black woman sits at her home in Ohio. Is she 112? It makes no difference, She is at least 90. Her name in this world is Maryam Priscilla Grace and she is from the Edo somewhere in Africa where she was captured by a hostile tribe and sold into slavery.

Williams richly portrays Little Bird, a middle child, daughter of her widowed father's second wife, not yet a woman. She carves out her place in her large family by being not too pretty and very talented with language. Her father finds it both safe and useful to take her to town when he has business and she soaks up as many languages and dialects as she can. Her teenaged sisters are all talking about marriage and the secrets women share, teasing Little Bird and not quite letting the youngest daughter into the\ir circle. Williams captures, the smell of her village the snippets a ten year old picks up from the adults around her when her life is still focused on play and chores, the knowledge that there are predators out there and what happens --the painful story of what happens --when you are captured and shackled and marched for days to a port city where you will travel in unspeakable conditions to an unknown place. Experiences that form deep memories: grief, a desire to be no more and the tug toward life when life makes no sense at all. Yet Little Bird forever has only a child's perception of her experience and a child's memory of home.

The girl who becomes Maryam does not take a straight line into enslavement. She is born free, even though she did not understand what freedom was as she lived her life. She experiences a brief period in the United States where, by chance, she learns about midwifery and treating illness and injury. She is good at this and has a wonderful teacher, but that time is not to last. She is ultimately captured once more and sold, becoming an enslaved person on a plantation. She serves residents and is hired out to neighbors as a healer/midwife but still must work the fields as well. Along the way, Mariam encounters men who are fundamentally evil and those who treat her with loving regard. She has children whose fates she cannot control. And always we watch the push and pull of pursuing life and losing hope in a world where you are property. Valuable property because of your skills that bring comfort to the ill. Throughout, this is a hard, harsh story but it shows among many of the characters, personal strength, and finding meaning in a life that subjugates you and pushes back against any nonconforming behavior. Terrible things happen, yet this is largely a pleasant book to read because it is Maryam's tale of her past, we already know she is now okay, and throughout, she is a fiercely independent minded person, acting within the rules - mostly -- but never giving up the central truth of who she is. Her common sense dictates care and obedience. But those people need her and she has some measure of safety and stature not everyone enjoys. Little Bird lives through the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. As a healer and midwife, she has a front row seat to white and black people at their most vulnerable and she holds many secrets. Her deep knowledge of human psychology, enriches every encounter.

The episodic tale of her life is totally engrossing, believable, and varied yet at the beginning and at the end it is a story of safety, security and love among one's multi-generational family. And in the middle, there is subjugation, the knowledge that nothing at all belongs to you including your own body and your "family." That the desire to live a full life is powerful and how you do this can take many shapes. Family takes many shapes, even in unusual settings on a slave ship, in an odd interlude in life, on the plantation. It is always paramount, but never certain for an enslaved person and so it must be reinvented just to survive. Things Past Telling is one of those books, where, when I reached the end, I sat quiet for several moments and breathed out a "Whoa!" How do you capture the loveliness and truth in this story without making it sound simplistic, because it is not, or Uncle Tom-like, which it is not. See what you think! I highly recommend this read!

This was one of my most anticipated books but unfortunately it just didn't do it for me at all. It's just a complete miss for me, which is really too bad because the synopsis checked all of my boxes and it should've been a win. I hate to only badger books in reviews, however I feel the need to be specific in this case to help other readers ascertain if it's something they would like to read. Due to being specific, there will unfortunately be spoilers but I don't think I can avoid that in this review.

There was a lack of depth and terrible pacing issues. We got like ONE story from when Maryam was a pirate. Otherwise, years of stories were just lumped together of just what they did generally during that time. During that same time frame, Maryam wound up pregnant. EVERYONE was surprised, most of all the freaking reader because we had NEVER been told of any sexual act EVER. That is a huge pet peeve of mine in books...when we are reading books, we should be privy to that character's stories inner most thoughts and experiences. We should've felt her fear and loathing and burying of her sexual assault. Having the main character have a surprise pregnancy and then be like "oh yeah, I was sexually assaulted but tried to just black that out and let no one know" is fine to other characters but completely unacceptable to do to the reader. That was the biggest problem of that sort, but still it continued to just gloss over things. For example, her husband and sons got sold. We jump from the moment she realizes they're gone to her being pulled from the river in a suicide attempt. It just made it so hard to connect to Maryam and her actual feelings because it would just jump ahead in time like that and skip the pain and feelings that led her there. Oh and let's not forget the Revolutionary War that only got a few paragraphs and somehow never affected them besides deciding whether or not to stay out of it.

However, my biggest qualm in this story was that it felt like sugarcoated slavery. Over and over again, Maryam mentioned that she had to act decently to avoid things that could make the white man kill her. But she nor her husband nor her children nor any other slave with them was ever physically punished. I can fully believe that there were a few decent slaveowners, but for there to never truly be any tension or fear felt over the course of a lifetime is pretty unbelievable. Heck, even multiple auctioneers wouldn't touch her because they could see the fight in her eyes? She beat the crap out of a white overseer and the family sends HIM away and not her? They think she's a witch but don't do or say anything, but decide to sell her after suspecting she's helping runaways? Don't even try to catch her or get her in trouble? Then of course she gets sold to an even nicer white man who falls for her so hard that he buys a baby for her and sets them both free...so she goes to Ohio and lives perfectly fine, except for one moment of tension where she ends up killing a white man but the town is behind her and again, EVERYTHING IS FINE?! Then eventually a grandson finds her and again, everything remains perfect? What an absolute disservice to history this felt like. Sure, maybe all these things could've happened, but altogether, with none of the real horrors of slavery ever mentioned just made me sick. I feel like all of this could've been fine if there had been some real hardships to cut through

5⭐
PG-13 for a lot of tough content on slavery, miscarriage, death, rape but nothing is graphic

I'm still drying my eyes after finishing this one, y'all, so it's going to be a strong recommendation from me to anyone looking for book about slavery that includes both the hardship but also the beauty of an amazing women who found her life among brutality. And in the end she lived to be over 100 from her childhood in Africa to seeing her people freed by the Civil War!

This book literally had a little bit of everything: from the family moments of childhood, to the terrible moment Grace/Little Bird is kidnapped and sold into slavery in Africa, to how learns to be a pirate and midwife in the Caribbean as a free woman and then is captured and sold into slavery in the Americas. In face of the horrors of slavery, Grace serves all kinds of people's medical needs, falls in love and is loved, helps runaway slaves, raises her own family and begins to think about her own freedom.

The best part of this book? The tears I cried at the end were happy tears because part of the book came full circle in this beautiful way. I feel like if you enjoy some of the historical fiction elements of Outlander and Homegoing and some of the mysterious family history of Black Cake, this is a good one.

Things Past Telling is historical fiction at its best: It’s a well-researched, compelling story that makes the modern reader ponder the effects of the past.

Maryam was born in Africa in the mid 18th-century. She was kidnapped by slave traders as a girl and travels to the Caribbean, Savannah, Virginia, and Ohio. Her story is simultaneously heartbreaking and inspirational. She is a character that will stay with you after your have finished reading.

Maryam was a very relatable character, and Shelia Williams’s writing style makes it impossible for the reader not to imagine themself in Maryam’s shoes.

DNF @ around 30%. I just couldn't get into the writing style of this book. It feels like we are kept so far away from the characters and the story. That may be on purpose due to the difficult nature of what happened and how the main character tends to distance herself from it. She's also telling us her story as an old woman, and that's really how it feels. Like I'm being told a story, but am not in it. Overall, the style does make sense for the type of sweeping story that this is, but it just doesn't work for me.

Oh my! I just finished reading this wonderful and epic historical fiction story of a 112-year-old courageous woman tell her account of being born in Africa and her life as a slave in America. As a young girl she was captured and sold into slavery, saved by a pirate, then again captured and sold again. Maryam Priscilla Grace became a midwife and healer so she was valued beyond being a field slave as she walked that fine line, although not ever free. In time she was able to find love with a husband and had children. But all too soon, knew heartache and loss when her family was sold away from her, never to be seen again. Thought by many to be a witch, Maryam then too was sold to a Scottish farmer who in contrary was kind. Eventually, she was granted her freedom and she headed to Ohio to live out her days as a free woman. Through the loss of family, her husband, her children, her home, and her culture, all she really has is her name and herself.

The storytelling of her life was mesmerizing and rich in emotions as it challenges us to examine our thoughts on humanity. This is a story that once I started, I had to read. It is a story that will stay with you long after the last page. The descriptions and details are vivid. Well written, as the reader, you will be drawn in and transported. Put this on your TBR list today. I predict that this will be well talked about for others to read.

Many thanks to #netgalley #thingspasttelling #sheilawilliams for the opportunity to read and review this book.

If you are like me, you totally pick your book by the cover. And this book was totally picked by its cover. But the book within was just as wonderful. This story was fascinating, sad, horrible, amazing and I could continue to go on. This is a book about the life of a young lady who was torn from her homeland and placed on a slavery ship. Told by the voice of the main character, Maryam, the story comes alive as you journey through her life. The story was beautifully written. I feel like if I start writing a synopsis, you are going to get a dissertation. So just check it out. I was not in the least bit sad because I picked it by the cover. I was greatly enriched by reading this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)

An engrossing read that was hard to put down at times.

In the 1700’s Maryam is born in West Africa. We learn about her family and culture when she is captured by slave traffickers and put on a ship bound for the Caribbean.

I really enjoyed the breadth and span this book encompasses following Maryam over her 100+ years of life. Pirates, translator, midwife, slave, mother, wife, underground railroad helper and beyond this book covers beautifully.

This book didn’t show a lot of tragedy, and spoke of their troubles minimally. I didn’t connect well or closely with any of the characters, they were almost breezed over. Perhaps it was because the book was spanning 100+ years of Maryam’s life…it focused more on the places and people she met in her life rather than focusing on the trials and troubles she faced.

Published March 15.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amistad for the advance e-copy in return for an honest review.

“Blessed is she who remembers when all have forgotten.…” - Maryam

The opening scene of Things Past Telling is set in the Ohio Valley where a census taker asks (in a rather condescending manner) an elderly black woman’s name, age, and place of birth. He arrogantly implies she was born enslaved, but it is here in mere seconds for her, but an entire novel for the reader, that more than a century of experiences (inspired by real events) are revealed in her “remembering.”

Beginning with her origins as a young girl lovingly called “Little Bird” she trails behind her father regularly in the marketplace in the land of Edo (in a place called Africa) where she learns a variety of languages and is exposed to many cultures before capture. After a dispiriting First Passage, and a hellish and heart-breaking Middle Passage crossing before arriving in the Caribbean where she learns healing and midwifery - a skill that proves to be most beneficial for the rest of her life. Most readers who are familiar with stories surrounding the slave trade will find nothing new here; however, I think the book really hones in on the relationships, bonds, and tight-knit communities that are formed between disparate, displaced, and marginalized people. It is within these settings and communities – the hull of the slave ships, Island Maroon villages, slave plantations, freedman townships - that the author expands the depth and importance of these relationships and the roles they play on the central character whose name changes symbolically at each major shift in her life. Equally disturbing is what is lost when those relationships are destroyed by separation whether by death, sale, or unfortunate circumstance because in this world, happiness is both rare and fleeting.

The author takes care to include tidbits of American history and the circumstances surrounding lesser-known events such as the Igbo Landing Mass Suicide, the challenges and consequences of supporting the Underground Railroad, the impact of the Fugitive Slave Law on freedmen and women of color in border states, and the constant threat of rape/sexual abuse and servitude that enslaved children and women endured.

Recommended for fans of historical fiction and those interested in the African Diaspora. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Amistad, for a chance to review!

An extraordinary book! A young girl, ripped from her family, home, and continent, forced to grow up fast.
I found this book to be compelling and thought provoking.
The writing is well done and the characters come to life.
Don’t miss this one.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair review.
WHEW how do I unpack all of my feelings for this book? Spanning 100 years, we meet a young girl from Africa and follow her tale through the slave trade to her eventual emancipation and settlement in Ohio. Reading this book is like listening to your grandma tell the tales of her life. You can see it all in front of you, and you are rapt waiting for more. The way Ms Williams tells this tale is exactly what I hope for in a book: Long enough so the story stays with me, short enough to make me want for more. The characters were vibrant, the setting vivid before me. I really loved this book and messaged the author before I could review it. We will do this in book club and Ill tell everyone I know.
5*