Coleman Hill is part history, part biography, and part myth of author Kim Coleman Foote's actual ancestors. I really thought I would love it more!
What I loved:
1. A debut author that has done a beautiful job of sharing history in this unique way.
2. The way that the author takes real life photographs and stories and weaves them into a new story.

What I wanted to be different;
1. Maybe a family tree at the beginning of the book to help us connect all the characters.
2. There was so many POV in the chapters with the many characters - that I had a hard time keeping track of them. Each of the characters could have had their own book!
 
Thanks to the Zando Projects and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

If you liked The Love Songs of W.E.B Du Bois, Pachinko, or any other multigenerational family saga, Coleman Hill is a MUST READ.

This is a story about 2 different families that moved from Alabama to New Jersey in 1916. The two mothers of these families begin as friends but after their children engage in some unseemly acts together their friendship abruptly ends. We follow these 2 women, their children, their grand children, and their great grand children through the years.

Coleman Hill reminds me of the above books I also adore, but it is also so unique. I did not realize until the end that this is not fully fiction, it is actually what the author calls a biomythography - and it originated as the author was doing research on her own family history. The author attempted to remain true to history by talking with family members, but had to fill in some blanks and take creative liberties to see the story realized in this way.

I could feel this connection the author had with the story and the text. Even before I knew it was a biomythography I kept thinking how intimate it felt. The author wrote these characters with such dearness and love - but not in a way that felt like rose colored glasses. I could tell the author had respect for these women and men; flaws, mistakes, and struggles included, and it shined through in the writing. These characters were all so real and fleshed out and as a reader I felt love and understanding for them even when they were far from perfect. Part of that I think comes from the authors connection, but I also find myself feeling this way when I read multigenerational stories because we have soooo much context by the end.

This story is a great illustration of two Black American families, intergenerational trauma, and struggles with poverty, domestic violence, friendships, parenthood, alcoholism, and more.

I listened to this on audio and the narration was EXCELLENT. My girl Bahni Turpin is the narrator and she is so talented!!

*Thank you to Zando and Netgalley for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I absolutely LOVED this book! It felt like I was right there with the members of the family in the book. It really made me remember why I love reading so much all.

A stunning debut. I loved that the story was inspired by the author’s family history.
Many thanks to Zando Projects and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars
I expected to like this a lot more than I did. Part of the problem was that life was just so hard for so many people, that it made for a depressing read. Another part was that you could see how the hardness of life, the struggles, the indignities, made the people hard. Most of them ended up being pretty unlikeable. In addition, there were just so many characters, in so many places and times, that it was hard to keep track.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

Coleman Hill is the story of Lucy and Celia who are part of The Great Migration from the Southern US to the Northern US. The book tells the story of their families and relations and weaves real-life challenges throughout it, It was sometimes challenging to keep all the characters straight but I do enjoy a good epic novel and I enjoyed this one.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of Coleman Hill in exchange for an honest opinion. Coleman Hill is available now.

The author's writing kept me interested in reading this book. The events described gave me an inside look into the difficulties faced by those people choosing to move to the north after the Civil War. I was interested in the character development of each of the people in the book. I would highly recommend reading this book.

Coleman Foote presents a biomythography of the author – it’s a historical fiction novel that switches narrator perspective like interlocking puzzle pieces. The book was well-written and well-narrated. A very compelling read. A beautifully told profile of a family over several generations.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book reads like a combination autobiography and historical fiction. This aspect of United States history is not often chronicled in fiction. The characters are very memorable and their struggles and stories are compelling. Truly recommend this book!

Despite efforts to the contrary, two matriarchal families become inextricably linked, due to circumstances of young love and stupidity.
The narration ping pongs between different family members from several generations, telling their stories of survival, forbearance, and the struggle to do better than their parents. I found it a little hard to get into at the start, but it quickly got going and was compelling throughout.
Thanks to #netgalley and #sjplit for this #arc of #colemanhill by #kimcolemanfoote in exchange for an honest review.

This text was about two families who become mixed up with each other. First as friends, when two single mothers seek comfort in each other as single mothers. Later as less than that as they navigate through their teenager's curiosity which leads them to turn to each other to seek the answers to those questions. The families end up feuding as the two teenagers are forced into a relationship due to an unexpected pregnancy.

And the cycle of low-income and a large family begins again.

In the early 20th century, as Black families start leaving the south in droves, two families make their way to New Jersey and find themselves leaning on one another for support. That support leads to an impulsive decision that will turn the friends into enemies, and the consequences will fall down through generations. Author Kim Coleman Foote leans heavily on her own family’s experiences to create this “biomythography” in the well-intentioned but meandering book Coleman Hill.

It's 1916, and Lucy Grimes and Celia Coleman are neighbors in Vauxhall, New Jersey. After scraping and scrabbling in southern states, they each came to the New Jersey town to try to improve their families’ station in life. Anything, they think, has to be better than Florida and Alabama where racism and segregation are rampant.

In the early years, Lucy and Celia rely on each other for support. They’re polar opposites in every way, and that’s what makes their friendship so strong. Not long after moving to Vauxhall, both women lose their husbands to the hardships of work. It might be more plentiful in the north, but that doesn’t mean it’s more equitable.

The Women live close enough to each other to visit during the hardest of times. Their children, too, frequently find one another in both houses, which is why the mothers miss the growing attraction between two of them. Lucy’s daughter, Bertha, and Celia’s son, Jeb, fall in love—or the teenage version of it, anyway—and steal whatever time they can have together. When Celia walks in on them sharing an intimate moment, she throws Bertha out of her house and accuses her of having a loose moral character.

The act causes a rift between the friends but not their families. Despite their mothers’ objections, Jeb and Bertha get married and eventually move in with Celia. Jeb’s siblings slowly start to make their way into the world too, falling in and out of love, having children of their own, and coming back to the house on Coleman Hill, as Celia has taken to calling the small hill where she lives. As decades pass and the children hand down abuse and trauma to subsequent generations, it’s easy to trace a clear line back to the rift between Celia and Lucy.

Author Kim Coleman Foote has used historical records, her own family history, and fiction to braid what the late author Audre Lorde called a “biomythography.” Foote moves seamlessly between fact and fantasy; readers won’t be able to tell where one starts and the other ends. The details she uses grounds the book in reality, which makes the generational trauma that much more devastating.

By the end, however, that generational trauma is the one enduring factor of the book. It reads more like a collection of events or remembrances rather than a cohesive story with a clear throughline from start to finish. Readers looking for a final point to the entire book may come away disappointed. It feels more like the author simply chose to stop writing rather than funneling everything toward a thoughtfully plotted story that leaves readers with a single takeaway at the end.

Moreover, the book’s messages may leave many readers disheartened. Foote does highlight some of the good in her characters’ lives, but so much of the pain and horror of abuse and racism radiate through the book that the good feels more like a token inclusion. That’s all the more reason the book needed an anchoring point. Readers may feel exhausted by the end by its tales that ultimately feel circular.

Readers wanting an up close look at life in the northeast for Black people in the early 1920s may want to pick this up. Others may choose to stay away from its somewhat depressing themes.

A generational family history that carries through vignettes across time. Each family member story read as a short story but came together as whole

Beautiful! I absolutely loved how Kim Coleman Foote told the story within each chapter from the perspective of different characters. This way we were able to do a deeper dive into the family.

Coleman Foote touched on a lot of relatable topics too like friendships, Jim Crow, and abuse in a way that really made you feel for the characters.

Really wanted to love this book after the amazing reviews, but I got very confused about the multiple perspectives and story lines. Will give it another try in a year or two!

This is a family saga about two families who migrated from the south to the north - a time known as the Great Migration. In 1916, Celia Coleman and Lucy Grimes, along with their respective families, settled in Vauxhall, New Jersey. The two women started out as friends, both hoping for a better life, but lives as struggling single mothers and loyalties to their family overtook their friendship.

Described as a ‘biomythography’ and inspired by the author’s own family history, this novel is a hard hitting read about the effect of intergenerational trauma and poverty. Each chapter is narrated by a different family member - but Foote generally does a good job of providing different perspectives without it being too repetitive. At times, it was a little hard to follow and I did find it a bit overwhelming to read - the incidents of domestic and family violence are many.

Thanks to @netgalley and @zandoprojects for the ebook in return for an honest review.

4⭐️

I also recommend reading The Warmth of Other Suns by @isabelwilkerson if you want to know more about the Great Migration.

This is a story that's big in scope, including two families, three generations and a good bit of American history. It shows the cycle of abuse and poverty, and how difficult it is to get out. The story was immersive and engaging, and the character work was strong. Overall, I enjoyed reading it.

Powerful piece of biographical debut fiction based on the lives of two families who make the journey to the North in search of a better life away from the poverty and racism of the South. Following the death of their husbands, Celia and Lucy provide great support for each other however an incident between their children threatens their friendship and that of their growing family.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review

This book tells the story of two families who met during the Great Migration. The family’s stories are interwoven with each other. The genre is a biomythography, a term I wasn’t familiar with. It is a true story intertwined with fiction. The families are joined when their children marry, but it’s not a happy story. As they had left the south with hopes of a better life in New Jersey, their backgrounds followed them. As their lives show some violence and abuse, it’s hard to find some of the characters likeable. Each character has their own chapters to explain the story. It doesn’t make some things right, but it does explain the thought process of the characters and why they did certain things. There is also deep love within some of the family members. I found this book fascinating as I didn’t know much about this part of history.

Also reviewed on B&N (1IrishEyes430 and Kobo (IrishEyes430)

Coleman Hill by Kim Coleman Foote begins with two sharecropping families who fled the Jim Crow South for the “Promised Land” during the Great Migration.

But Celia Coleman and Lucy Grimes quickly learn that life in Vauxhall, New Jersey, isn’t that all that much different.

They’re still working-class Black women whose lives do not matter. They’re underpaid, undereducated and under-appreciated.

As their families grow and future generations are made, we witness the trauma and abuse that carry them forward. The author says she wrote this book to "shows the ways people love and how they think they love when they lack models of the abundant possibilities of love."

Coleman Hill is a “biomythography.” Meaning, it is fiction, but based on family lore, historical research, exposed artifacts and secrets and oral histories as told to the author. It draws from many sources to create a modern new history, according to the Coleman Foote.


Special thanks to the publisher Zando Projects for the advanced reader copy via the NetGalley app. I also listened to the audiobook narrated by the ever-talented Bahni Turpin and Dion Graham.

This American story is the first title under the SJP Imprint by Sarah Jessica Parker.