Thank you to Net Galley for providing an early copy of Coleman Hill by Kim Coleman Foote

It is hard to imagine any grandmother not reaching out to her children and grandchildren so desperate for just some love and attention. Celia Coleman is such a grandmother in the brutal biomythography Coleman Hill by Kim Coleman Foote. Not once does Gra Coleman show any of the compassion that is a kind of benchmark in family sagas. Instead, Celia Coleman is physically abusive, cold and vindictive, and a clear result is that her children grow up not knowing any other way. In fact, the grandchildren plan her murder.
The story is packed with dialogue that helps to focus the characters as they struggle as part of the Great Migration from the segregated South to better jobs and opportunities in the North. Perhaps this lack of roots is partly responsible for the breakdown of normal family discourse within the family dynamic.
One of the children does attempt some kind of thoughtful reconciliation with the past as he examines his own strengths and weaknesses. Too little too late.
While there is hope for the young generation, Celia Coleman will not be remembered with any type of joy.