4.5 Stars

Kim Coleman Foote has lovingly woven together the stories of a family. A family connected by blood, but also connected by family history, and the associated memories. A beautifully woven story of the history of the lives of these two families shared over eighty years, with some dark moments.

When Lucy Grimes family and Celia Coleman family grow tired of working so hard so others can reap the benefits of their toil, both families decide to head north and meet on the train headed for New Jersey. Several of their former friends have moved there, and they imagine this new, Donna Reed kind of lifestyle. Staying home, baking, taking care of their children, making dinner. ”The only cotton we’d touch would be our dresses and gloves and the babies’ diapers.”

This isn’t a happy story even after they arrive. They both become widows, and have little in the way of resources, and their lives begin to unravel. There’s a building tension, which essentially destroys their friendship.

Essentially, this is a story that focuses on intergenerational trauma in/of families, and the effect it has on future generations over time, including
domestic violence, alcohol abuse, and poverty.

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, this is a thought provoking debut on generational trauma and the effect it has on past and future generations.


Pub Date: 05 Sept 2023

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Zando Projects, SJP Lit

This was such an interesting read—a biomythography, in the words of Audre Lorde—that blends fact, historical record, and memory with fiction to become something entirely new. A powerful story of two families who became intertwined after the Great Migration, this was a difficult read at times but a fascinating look into a family history and a certain period in time. The second person voice was a bit difficult for me, I had a hard time getting the prose to flow in my head, but the pictures in my mind were clear. An impressive debut from Kim Coleman Foote.

Coleman Foote tells the tale of what is known as the "Generational Curse" in her story she tells of two women Celia and Lucy and their families three generations deep.

You will get to know all about how Coleman Hill and the lives that were entwined.

Coleman-Foote tells how these two women escaped from the south in the early 1900's, for freedom in New Jersey.

Along with this freedom came infidelity, physical abuse, child neglect, child abuse, lack of education and poverty.

Overall the book is extremely interesting, however, you may be very confused due to the many characters and trying to keep track of who belongs to which family member.


Thank you, NetGalley/Kim Coleman Foote/Zando Projects, SJP Lit/ For this eArc in advance for my honest review. My opinions are of my own volition,

The story two families who move to New Jersey from the South in 1916 during the Great Migration to escape the Klan and other issues… and to better their lives.
The mothers Lucy and Celia become friends and this is the story of their marriages, children , grandchildren..
A story with the poverty, abuse, alcoholism, infidelities…and it gets to where the cycle doesn’t end..
There are a whole lot of characters its a bit hard to keep track of them.. I really would give this more of a 3.5 rating

Thank you to Netaand Zando for the ARC!

The best debut I have read this year! This is such a powerful story. I was blown away! I am so excited about this book! It is beautifully painful.

Coleman Hill is marketed as a biomythographic novel, and the synopsis (multi-generational family saga) sounded right up my alley. I felt like the book didn't really deliver what was promised -- I was expecting a more cohesive novel with a plot line running throughout, and instead this felt more like vignettes -- not always linear -- sort of like fragments of a big picture. Indeed, the book seems to have originated from a series of short stories published over the years by the author, and I felt that in the novel.

There were a lot of characters -- indeed as there would be in a large multi-generational family -- but at times I found it hard to keep straight who was related to who and how, especially when the story is told from the viewpoints of people in different generations. A family tree illustration would have been helpful (and maybe one will be available in the print book).

I have no qualms with the writing -- indeed, I felt like I really got to know the characters and felt the pain and suffering many of them had to endure. My criticisms are around the structure of the book, or in turn perhaps with how the book is being pitched (the synopsis perhaps not matching for me the experience of reading the book).

I absolutely loved this story and was blown away by it. Will be recommending this wonderful and heartfelt blend of fact and fiction. The characters are so well written and explored along with their struggles.

Beautifully written absolutely unique,a book of fact mixed with fiction.A story of two families whose families connect during the great migration.A saga that will keeps you turning the pages& thinking about the characters after you read the last page.#netgalley #zondo

Kim Coleman Foote invests heart and soul into her debut novel "Coleman Hill". It is a "biomythography" and Coleman Foote honors us with an honest and powerful tribute to her families' real and imagined struggle to find their place in a continually imperfect, racist, and hostile country.

"Coleman Hill" gives us a front-row seat by following two families across three generations, starting in the deep South during the nightmarish post Civil War Reconstruction, moving through the terrors of Jim Crow, then joining the Great Migration north finding dashed hopes and dreams, and finally making tenuous contact back to the Civil Rights era Deep South. Vintage family photos and true and realistically embellished family tales guide us throughout.

The structure of "Coleman Hill" is a treat. Each chapter is 1st person narrated or 3rd person guided by varied voices, distinctive and unique, each adding perspective and thought to the throughline of the overall narrative. The result is a tapestry that keeps the reader engaged in a challenging manner.

The micro-family dramas reflect the macro horrors of the times: brutal slavery followed by company-store sharecropping, Ku Klux Klan raping and lynching, misogyny, senseless assault, police brutality, incarceration, domestic violence, redlining, endless egregious and ingenious forms of segregation and subjugation. Families are inevitably matriarchal. Girls become women far too soon. Boys need to be protected, leading often to an excess that does not end well. The cycle of poverty and despair is an abject challenge that requires the utmost faith and strength to truly break.

Thank you for sharing, Ms. Coleman Foote. "Coleman Hill" is heartbreaking and heartwarming. You share a path of hope and triumph. Your family will stay with me forever. All the best in every way in your future work and life.

Thanks to SJP Lit and NetGalley for the eARC.

This book was not an easy read. It offers a bleak picture of intergenerational trauma that is hard to critique given that it’s based on the author’s family history. I appreciated the snapshots at the start of each chapter and wonder whether the author’s note will shed light on where they came from (e.g., were they passed down to her, did she find them after a relative died, are they pictures of her family members?). I appreciated the free ARC from NetGalley, but don’t think I can fully process the book without the author’s note.

This was an advanced copy from NetGalley. Coleman Hill is part history, part biography, and part myth of author Kim Coleman Foote's actual ancestors. It begins in the early 1900 in Alabama. Newly freed slaves hearing about opportunities in the north, move to New Jersey in search of better lives. This story is about two families in particular, the Grimes and the Colemans, and how their lives become intertwined. Spanning almost a century, this multigenerational family saga was not an easy read. The sheer number of family members is difficult to keep track of. The emotional and physical abuse these family members inflict on each other and on their children may be difficult for some readers, not to mention abuses coming from outside the family. Having said that, I still found it compelling and finished it in two days. Old black and white photographs of family members are a nice touch. If you like messy multi general family stories, then this one is for you.

I found Coleman Hill a difficult book to read. I had a hard time following everyone; just too many people. I can't tell if this is a memoir or a family history. I guess it just wasn't a book for me.

After the emancipation a large majority moved north for a better life, was it better? Everyone is a product of their upbringing and these people were slaves. Some of the men followed how their father treated them and the woman suffered. Th slave owners didn’t treat them too well also. You would hope people would try to break the chain of how they were brought up mostly that didn’t happen. These behaviors are passed down through generations and it was sad to read about.

These families’ lives as they flee the south to the promised land of the north are hard to read. Women are thrust into roles of continuing to care for their families; but also to work in lowly esteemed and poorly paid jobs. Their husbands often beat them, desert them or cater to their mother’s who revile these wives. And the women in turn protect their sons against accusations from other women and girls. The viciousness continues through each subsequent generation. The narratives were sometimes hard to follow as they weren’t always clear which narrator was speaking. This was an insightful, if not uplifting read.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. Colemon Hill by Kim Coleman Foote, is a biography mythology book. I found that kind of an interesting description of this book. It takes place from the 1920 through the late 1980s. Each chapter has a relative telling their story of what happened in their family. It especially surrounds Bertha and what happened to her and her relatives. It surrounds Bertha leaving her family, some of them children. the book has each relative sharing the experience over the decades. for some Bertha is the innocent victim of abuse. Others are bitter and angry at her. I get the reader has to decide on Bertha. So are these true recollections or not? A good book. I found myself feeling bad for Bertha. There is a lot of different opinions of their lives and what happened all those years ago.

This book follows two families that migrated North in the hopes of finding a better and safer life. However sadly this was not the case for either family. It is not an easy read. The families were once very close, but an incident between two children changes all that. The book depicts ongoing violence between spouses and children that keeps repeating itself in future generations, which is very disturbing. There are pictures in the book that help to identify family members, but reading on a kindle makes it a difficult to keep track. Reading an actual hard cover book would in this case been better.
Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Coleman Hill is the story of two American families whose settled in New Jersey following the Great Migration. Coleman uses her own personal history and photographs to build a consuming and complex story of the matriarchs of early 1900's. We meet Celia and Lucy, two women who become close friends as they adapt to life up North- not the promised land that they expected. They lean on one another through challenges with family, lack of job opportunities, and abuse. The book is an intense and reflective tale of generational trauma, lack of opportunities, and violence. Ms. Coleman Foote gives us an iinside look at how her ancestors' life stories. I am grateful for her courage and for sharing her family's truth.

Thank you #NetGalley and #ZandoProjects for the ARC copy of #ColemanHill. This book blew me away. Kim Coleman Foote has really developed her characters well, and intertwined their stories in the perfect way. I can hardly believe this is a debut novel. It is the perfect mix of history and fiction. Outstanding, and one of the best books I have read so far this year. Well done Kim Coleman Foote!

Coleman Hill is a gripping story of two families that connect, tracing their history from 1916 and their exodus from the South to New Jersey, following the path of so many other Black individuals and families during the Great Migration, up until the late 1980's. We meet Celia and Lucy, two women who become close friends as they adapt to life up North- not the promised land that they expected. They lean on one another through challenges with family, lack of job opportunities, and abuse. Their friendship is fractured when two of their teenage children act out in an inappropriate way with one another, and their friendship cannot recover as each woman blames the other for the resulting complex situation. This one act between children has long lasting consequences for the two families, which is then charted through the course of the rest of the novel, pivoting more away from Celia and Lucy to their children and eventual grandchildren. This is an intense and reflective tale of generational trauma, lack of opportunities, and violence. Much of the characters' stories are heartbreaking and they lead complex lives. Knowing that this book came from the a mixture of both history and myth of the author's family legend, it is even more impressive. I learned that multiple chapters have been previously published as standalone, which I can see, as many sections focus on individual characters, but I love how Foote ultimately compiles the narratives together. This was beautifully written and I very much enjoyed.

Thank you to SJP Lit for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.

Coleman Hill is a heart-tugging story, part fact and part fiction, that describes the plight of two families, spanning three generations, and their internal struggles to sustain and redeem. It is also a strong testament to the healing power of time and one of the best books that I read this year.