Claudia Patterson was born in 1940 in the coloured town of Freedom, Mississippi, it was founded by freed slaves and it’s still dangerous to live there and because the Ku Klux Klan are very active in the area. Claudia parents both run their own businesses, her father Earl is a barber and her mother Sarah a hair dresser and Claudia is an only child.

Claudia and her grandmother Earline save the life of a severely beaten teenage boy called Denny Clark, it becomes unsafe for Claudia to stay in Freedom, her name has been linked to the white boy and he later goes on to be a leader of the Klan. Claudia leaves and goes to stay with her aunt Mavis, who’s the assistant principal at a private coloured girl’s school in Biloxi and family visits her on the weekends,

Claudia graduates high school, she goes to Hampton College and studies business. Claudia marries Robert Moore, and they move back to Mississippi, he works for the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee, Robert becomes involved with the civil rights movement and Claudia believes he hid what he was really doing from her and this leads to his death.

Claudia leaves the South, she has had enough and her best friend from college Yvonne lives in New York City and she invites her to visit. Claudia still encounters prejudice here, she’s not sure if it’s because of the colour of her skin or due to being an educated woman? Here she meets Ashley booth, a Wall Street executive and a successful one, he’s afraid to commit and when Claudia is given the chance to work for an international bank in Italy she seizes the opportunity.

Giancarlo Fortenza owns Fortenza Motors, he met a teenage Claudia years ago when she was visiting her aunt Virgie in France and now the twelve year age difference isn’t such an issue and is Claudia ready to put her heart on the line again?

I received a digital copy of Take the Long Way Home by Rochelle Alers from Kensington publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The narrative focuses on the life of a coloured woman, spanning over seventy years and it’s told from her point of view, she faces racism, discrimination, sexism and hatred.

Education and being fluent in three languages are pivotal in Claudia being able to leave America, live in another country and like many coloured people she was tired of waiting. Martin Luther King was a civil rights activist in America at the time and through nonviolence and using civil disobedience and he tried to bring about change. My favourite characters were, Claudia's grandmother Earline and her two aunts Mavis and Virgie and all three are strong and influential women and I gave the book three and a half stars.

DNF!!! I love historical fiction. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The writing style was off and I could not get through this book. It needed some editing. The writing was superficial and simplistic and the characters were not intriguing and did not interest me. Plus, the book wasn't even finished. The last 5-8 chapters were not in my advanced copy.

Thank you Kensington Books and NetGalley for this ARC for my honest review.

I judged a book by its cover and 100% expected this to be a World War II drama set at least partially in Italy. I was 100% wrong. Well, maybe not 100% because it’s set in the immediate post-war period (ish) and involves Italy. But it’s mostly the story of a young woman who grows up in the segregated southern United States but who has opportunities and relative privilege that make her life so very different from those we (I) have read of before. It’s also a story about love and friendship that spans continents and crosses state lines.

Claudia is a smart, polished businesswoman who knows what she wants and works hard for it. In a lot of ways this was a great book. In other ways this was not a fantastic read because there was just some choppiness in the writing and it’s the ARC with the most typos and errors I’ve ever seen - so that was a bit disappointing. I also don’t love how there are chapters missing at the end of the story - how are we expected to give a full review without understanding how the beginning chapters - set in the “present” - link back with the story that’s been told in the “in between.” Disappointed.

I found this book to be very interesting. It follows the life of Claudia from age 12 on. All she goes through an does. Her ups and downs. Sadness and happiness.

It's about the horrible racism in Mississippi and other states during her life. Unfortunately it still exists to this day. I found it hard to read in places. Not because it wasn't good but because it is so real. Growing up in a country that claims to be the land of the free yet so filled with hatred for people is horrible.

I found this book to be very realistic and well written. This author took one woman and made her come to life on the pages. It is one that I recommend people to read. Learn how things were. I just hope this one is not banned...

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington books for this ARC. This is my true thoughts about this book.

5 big stars.

I received this a digital copy of this book from Dafina via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This story was quite interesting. It was very detailed as it followed Claudia’s life through trials, tragedies, and triumphs. I was excited to see a young black woman that was fluent in four languages and well traveled. The author did a good job of pulling the reader into Claudia’s struggle with racism and the injustices she both experienced and saw among people of her race. I will admit this book took me a long time to read. I put it down often but always found myself picking it back up to see what was going on with the characters.

This sweeping saga covers over 80 years of Claudia Patterson’s life. It’s charming heroine, exotic locations, and historical setting certainly kept me interested. Claudia, who lives in a free Black town in the Deep South, has a dramatic change in her lufe when she saves a young White boy. This comes back to haunt her when he becomes one of the leaders of the KKL. He is her main enemy, but Claudia not only has to fight racial prejudice to get ahead in her career; she also faces incredible suffering during the Civil Rights Era.

This story covers Claudia’s romances and marriages, her friendships and her family relationships. Although the author emphasizes how beautiful, intelligent and warm-hearted Claudia is, she doesn’t get on your nerves. This was easy-reading, but it might interest Americans more, although it was intriguing to read a novel written from a Black American perspective. I will look up Rochelle Alers’s other books, though, because I liked her writing, although I felt that it was a bit too detailed about bodily changes, and intimacy at times.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781496735478
PRICE $16.95 (USD)
PAGES 320

From a prolific and talented romance and women’s fiction author, I was excited to see Rochelle Alers had written a historical fiction about a fascinating and well-traveled woman. A long saga of Claudia’s life as told in the fateful encounters she has with certain men that lead her on a lifelong journey of the heart and mind.

I’ve read a few of Rochelle Alers small town romances over the years and enjoyed the warmth and heartwarming quality she gives to a story through the main characters’ romance and the always present surround of family, found-family, and friends. This had me very curious to see what she could do with an expansive decades-long story of one woman. I was a bit wary knowing how I shrink from books that really hit me hard in the heart because I suspected Claudia’s story was not going to be an easy one and that became apparent in the opening chapters. The young guy she helped save turned around to become a Ku Klux Klan member later making it imperative that Claudia get away from her home in Mississippi. I was drawn into that small town of Freedom Mississippi and the south of the turbulent sixties. Claudia’s family especially her grandmother captured me early on.

Each man who comes into her life is a section of the book and, I’m a sucker for when author’s do this, there are pertinent quotes that head each chapter related to what is to come next in Claudia’s story. Though the men of these men makes it seem like the impetus of the story is on the men shaping Claudia. That is a partial truth. Claudia is a strong woman who learns from life and lives it on her own turns. She marries a man she loves and they share a yearning to be part of righting the wrongs of racial inequality, but he dies too soon. She has already lived in France, learns about loving from a Frenchman and also met an older man who knows she’s too young so he moved out of her life. In New York she meets another fascinating wealthy man and learns about business and finances. Her life journey brings her to Italy and she encounters that older man once again, but this time she not an inexperienced young girl so life gives them a second chance.

Rochelle Alers painted the historical backdrop including society and culture of each time period so vividly that history came to life through Claudia’s life and experiences. I loved that there was plenty of page time so she could expand and touch on so much of life’s ups, downs, lessons, and love. I did feel the page count a few times when I was antsy to see what was to come next for her while hoping it would turn out well.

My review copy ended just shy of the story’s finish at ch 43 so I’ll have to get ahold of the finished copy after the release to feel fully satisfied. However, a goodly portion of Claudia’s life was told so I feel comfortable rating it knowing how much I already appreciated and felt satisfaction for the author’s dive into historical fiction. Definitely one I can recommend who want a fascinating woman’s life story at the center of their historical fiction.

Unfortunately, I found this book's writing to be lifeless and bland. The premise of a well-educated Black woman growing up in the Civil Rights era would seem to lend itself to a good read, but this book was not at all well written, only my opinion.

The book mainly focused on the life of Claudia Patterson. Claudia and her family who lived in Mississippi during Jim Crowe laws and the enforcement of segregation laws. I enjoyed following Claudia throughout her eighty years journey which took her from 1950s Mississippi through Paris and Rome.
Unfortunately, I did not care for this book, I honestly cannot pinpoint why I did not care for it. I liked the history and Claudia. Perhaps having a second read through would have changed my opinion.
Thank you Rochelle Alers, Kensington Publishing Corp, NetGalley for the opportunity of reading and reviewing this book

Claudia grew up with her parents and grandma in the deep south of Mississippi during Jim Crow and segregation laws. When she finds a white boy nearly beaten to death in the woods and decides to help him, her life completely changes course. We follow Claudia from young teenager, to being exiled from her hometown, to growing up learning to speak multiple languages and moving abroad. To falling in love, not once but three times as she has a family and grows old into her 80s.

It was a story about family, love, and always walking through the doors that present opportunities because you never know which direction your life with go.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

I was intrigued by the cover and the title of this book. It is set up in four sections titled with the men and years that shaped Claudia's eighty plus years of her life. From Jim Crow laws in 1950s Mississippi to racism in Harlem in the 1960s to finding herself in Italy in the 1980s, this story takes you on a journey across time and place.
I liked that this book had a linear timeline and was told from Claudia's perspective as a Black woman. She lived through numerous hardships and heartaches, but always found a way to stay true to herself and her goals.
I would classify this a more historical romance than just historical fiction.
There were discussion questions at the end, but I would have liked to have read some Author's Notes about research and if any of the characters were real or were based on real people. I hope in the final printing there will be.

Thank you Kensington Books and Net Galley for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Well, this book was NOT for me. I knew I should have DNFed it about 20% in and I really should have listened to myself. But it was an ARC, and I don’t like DNFing books in case they get better for me. This one did not. Claudia is the FMC in this one, and the story starts out from when she is 12 and goes through her life at random intervals. I’m not completely sure where the book stops because apparently my copy says it’s incomplete and 5-6 chapters are missing. Why the publisher would send out an incomplete copy is beyond me. But also I don’t care enough about the book to even try to read those missing chapters. Sure, the book was educational. However, it was done in a way that I felt like I was reading a history textbook at times. I didn’t need big history info dumps randomly throughout the story. Okay, I’m done talking about this one. Just know it wasn’t for me.

I am going to be honest with this book. I am not quite sure what to make of it. It is not a bad book, but I am not sure it is a good book. I thought I knew what the main goal of this book was yet halfway through it seemed to focus less and less on the Civil Rights movement and Claudia’s part in it. Claudia is a very strong, intelligent, independent character. She is a joy to read. Yet I am not quite sure what the goal was in telling her story. I guess I wanted to walk away more moved by her life. Instead, I felt like I had just read the story of a strong amazing woman, but I am not sure of the impact she had that I as a reader should take from the story and ponder on further. Maybe it was because her different romances were highlighted so often. I don’t know that I needed that much focus on her personal sex life. Yes, sex can be power, but Claudia was so powerful on her own, that a general reference would have been okay. Not a run down of each of her lovers.
Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

I really enjoyed this epic look at the decades long struggle of a Black woman in the US and Europe. Claudia was born in an all Black town in Mississippi in 1940 and lives a pretty idyllic life with her parents who own businesses in town and her grandmother who lives nearby. Her life turns upside down when she comes across a beaten white boy while walking home from school at the age of twelve. She has had very little contact with Whites and when this boy decides he likes Claudia she rebuffs him. In order to save her she is sent off to live with her aunt in Biloxi where she goes to the all girl school where her aunt teaches.

Claudia learns French, Italian, and Spanish from her aunt which goes a long way to making her seem sophisticated when they take a graduation trip to Paris to stay with her other aunt for six weeks. There she meets and Italian man who she becomes good friends with but since he is twelve years older than her it doesn't go past one kiss. But even at eighteen she is aware that the racism she encounters in the US is not as pervasive in France.

Next Claudia goes to an Historically Black College where she meets her roommate's cousin from another college who she becomes involved with. I won't go through each step of Claudia's life but suffice to say that the book is clear about the racism in Mississippi and how it affected her life and her family's. I appreciated the look at how life was in an all Black town and the differences in locations in the US and also the change of times through the years. We follow Claudia into her 80's. She spent time in her early life in Paris but also a lot of time in Italy later on with stops back in Mississippi and in New York City. The struggles she had made for a great story.

On the downside, I really don't understand why the author went all romance novel on us a few times. To me this was a great Historical Fiction story which included the men in Claudia's life. But every time she was in a new relationship we would get a few pages of erotica. It just seemed so out of place with the story and definitely unnecessary to the storyline. I'm not a prude, it just didn't seem to fit and it certainly can't go in our HS library now. Too bad because the historical significance would be beneficial to many.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, actually both.....the first one I got did not include the last 5-8 chapters; luckily I was able to go back and get the final ARC that had all the chapters.

The story follows the life of Claudia, a remarkable black woman. It is rich in historical detail and very interesting. I lovedher aunts who greatly influenced her.
Many thanks to Kensington and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Take the Long Way Home by Rochelle Alers is a compelling story about Claudia, a woman of mixed race who lives an extraordinary life in Europe and America. She is from Mississippi but for various reasons leaves for Paris and Rome where she lives several decades. This bit resonated with me as an expat myself. She marries, works, travels, finds her true love, grows older and meets dear friends from her past. I did enjoy parts of her life as an older and wiser woman. Other parts tugged at my heart including the rescue of a severely beaten white boy by a black woman in a time in America when black people were ostracized...and worse.

The premise is fascinating but in reality the writing, editing issues and especially lots of gratuitous sex left me disappointed. Reviewers are informed this is an incomplete ARC which is less than ideal but the synopsis drew me in. Sadly, in general the book did not measure up in my view.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley.

I had an advanced copy ebook, so some editing things being overlooked were to be expected, but there were a ton of them which is disappointing this close to a publication day. However, what caused me to stop reading was errors in the timeline for the story that did not add up correctly. Those are important details that need to line up in a story, and I couldn't look past them because the story wasn't good enough for me to overlook it

This is the story of a black woman from Mississippi who gets educated and works her way up in the world, starting in New York and ending up in Italy.

I am not going to spend time reading part of a book. I only saw that this is a 45 chapter read and you want me to spend time and review it. I take pride in my reviews and I spend time on them. Not going to do that with a partial book. I'm sorry I requested it not realizing your decision to do this.

An interesting premise- the sweeping story of a mixed race woman over her 83 years- that's hampered by the need for another edit and, I hate to say this too much focus on steam. And, I didn't have the complete book! Geez- that makes this impossible to review fairly. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A missed opportunity.