This was a coming of age novel set it in 90's in a Black community in the South. I enjoyed learning about a family experience different from my own.

I'd describe the storytelling as episodic and I found some chapters of the book more engaging for me that others. I especially enjoyed when the point of view as from Mika.

Redwood Court is the strong debut novel by DeLana R. A. Dameron, who also writes poetry. The novel is told mostly through the eyes of Mika, a young, Black girl with strong ties to her family, especially her grandfather. At times, we get the first-person view from other characters in the novel, which I love, as it a varied perspective, deepening the story.

Redwood Court will be enjoyed by those who love coming of age novels. I fell in love with Mika, who is strong, sassy and warm. And based on the author’s note, somewhat autobiographical. This is very much a character-driven novel and one I will remember for a long time! I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Random House, Dial Press for the opportunity to read this digital ARC.

What a wonderful story about the importance of intergenerational relationships and learning your history through the stories shared. DeLana R. A. Dameron has created a story with rich characters, compelling relationships and wonderful history. Thanks #NetGalley #RandomHouse

I enjoyed getting to know the characters and family in Redwood Court by DéLana R.A. Cameron.

This is a heavily character based story and DéLana writes these characters beautifully. I fell in love with them and the realness of their portrayal. As a reader I felt like I was witnessing these precious events in their family history. While there isn't necessarily a steady plot line, each chapter is an important glimpse into the family's life.

At the beginning of the book we get a few family member's perspectives but about 25% in the focus is mainly from Mika. I liked and could somewhat relate to Mika as a person who lived through and grew up during the 90's. There are several nostalgic references that brought me straight back to that time but this time I lived it through a new lens.

In some ways I wish this book had a little more focus and that readers got follow up on events that were mentioned that we never saw resolved. Especially since the beginning of the book was told through multiple points of view, I wish we had gotten a little more of that in the second half of the book.

Thank you for the advance copy of this book!

Unfortunately, this one was clunky and hard to follow. I had a hard time knowing which POV was happening, and it demanded too much of me as a reader. I love family sagas and coming-of-age books, but a tighter edit would have made this one far better.

I'm a really big fan of family saga-type books with timelines spanning several generations. I really loved that aspect of this book. It was definitely more character driven than plot but with a great "slice of life" type story. I also liked that it was told in the POV of multiple characters but mostly by Mika, who starts out a young girl and is 16 by the end. Her innocent observations about life and her relatives on Redwood Court were so sweet and poignant and her relationship with her grandpa (Teeta) brought tears to my eyes at certain moments! The only thing that would have made the read more enjoyable to me is if there was more dialogue and less being told what happened as if in a diary. That said, I would definitely read more from this author!

A beautifully written story of a black family spanning three decades. It is a loving and close knit family with no high end drama. Very enjoyable.
Many thanks to Random House and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Mika Tabor, the youngest of a southern black family living in a suburb of Columbia, South Carolina collects the stories of her family and intertwines them with her own story. The characters just come to live in this book filled the struggles and triumphs of the Tabor family. So enjoyable!

Redwood Court is a coming of age story and an exploration of a southern Black family, told (mostly) through the lens of their youngest member.

This book was beautifully written. Dameron painted an amazing picture of this family where you could feel their love for one another and you wanted them to succeed. I especially loved the neighborhood with all of the different personalities and nosy neighbors.

Toward the end of the book there was one chapter that randomly switched to second person pov, which really thew me off. But other than that I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and The Dial Press for the ARC!

This is a very gentle book, a sweet coming-of-age of a young girl and her middle class black family in Charleston, South Carolina. Mika is the primary narrator, but others have their say, in explaining their familial history and how they came to be living there, to the best of their knowledge. Beginning with a school assignment in which she is to present an artifact explaining her ancestry, Mika goes back over what is known and what is supposed in order to present as accurate a picture as possible. Unlike so many histories of black families, there are really no secrets, no dramas, but loving affection and support. And this is what sets it apart.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for the copy of Redwood Court by DéLana R. A. Dameron. I loved the storytelling in this book. I was kind of taken aback at the number of characters at first, but then decided to enjoy learning more about Mika’s family. If you’re looking for an eloquent coming of age story, with an engaging main character you will root for, check out this book!

A beautiful story about a Southern Black family in the 90s. I cannot even believe this is a debut novel!

Some individuals are blessed with the awareness of their family history, their genealogy, and their sense of belonging in society. Others, like Mika Tabor, the young Black girl who is portrayed in Délana R.A. Dameron’s debut novel, Redwood Court, are at a loss to describe where their people came from. When her class is assigned a project to list their ancestors and country of origin, young Mika gets little help from her elders. No one really knows what part of Africa their blood relatives came from. Grandma Louise “Weesie” Bolton Mosby and Grandpa James “Teeta” Mosby, the matriarch and patriarch of the family, lived through the Jim Crow era. Now they live in a neighborhood called Redwood Court.

They live in Columbia, South Carolina. Mika is the daughter of their first daughter Rhina and her husband Thomas “Major” Tabor. Note that both Teeta and Major served in the military; despite this, they are still second-class citizens – because of the color of their skin. Mika has an older sister, and there are assorted other relatives mentioned throughout the book. Mika loves the time she spends at Redwood Court learning to ride her bike and spending time with Teeta. I loved watching her grow and blossom into a teenager.

Initially, the narrative seems to jump around a bit while establishing the characters; eventually it settles into a rhythm; it’s like Mika’s diary with some sections more appealing than others. What I loved was the dialect, which is rich and real, and it brings the characters to life. Weesie, who loves gossiping on the phone, and Teeta, who cherishes his younger granddaughter, and she adores him. In so many ways, Ms. Dameron illustrates the chasm between the races, the haves and the have-nots. There is a chapter in which a newly found relative is visiting, and a group of the women are playing spades. Cousin Daisy talks about ‘the ghetto’ and how whites use it to keep blacks in their place. She uses the term “ghetto” to refer to where Blacks live, even though it may be comfortable, and they consider it their own piece of paradise, like Redwood Court. People have ‘jobs’ - even though they may be menial, poor-paying jobs – their employment does not compare to what white people have, but whites figure it’s enough to keep Blacks “happy.”

And yet, as the book draws to a close, the family appears to be happy. They have one another. They love one another, support one another, through hard times, through good times. Redwood Court is a coming-of-age story. It’s a story about family – immediate family, ancestral family, and the human family.

I received a digital copy of Redwood Court in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley, The Dial Press, and Délana R.A. Dameron.

4 stars

Redwood Court reminded me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: the story of a girl growing up, set in a particular time and place and culture, but universal in its appeal and wisdom.

The time is the 1990s. The place is Columbia, Georgia. Redwood Court is home to Mika’s grandparents, who proudly purchased the suburban home in the 1960s. It was an achievement of having ‘made it.’ Mika adores her grandfather Teeta, the heart of the family. Her grandmother Weesie shaped the street into a community of mutual support. As Mika’s parents both work, she spends summers with her grandparents.

The novel begins with a homework project Mika is struggling over. She is tasked to trace her family history, but as African Americans, discovering their roots is unlikely. Teeta tells Mika that it’s her job to preserve their stories for the future. And the entire book tells their story, past and present, from the grandparent’s remarkable love story to her uncle’s incarceration. Mika spends time with the women, listening, learning.

This unforgettable family has its joys and losses, holds on to hope and faces the cruel reality of racism. It’s a wonderful debut novel and I look forward to hearing more from this writer.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book.

Thank you to netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Random House, The Dial Press for allowing me to read the incredible book. I enjoyed this book so much. This book took you on a amazing journey of self learning and learning the history of this family.

I love a family saga…especially one set in the south. While this is a very good read I did struggle as others said with so many characters and so many points of view. I did appreciate the character listings at the beginning of the book but found myself referring back to the list too often which made the read more tedious.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed this character-rich family saga meets coming of age story. The setting of the South in a black community was well-written.

This was an incredible debut. Can’t wait to read more from this author.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Redwood Court is a family saga about a black family in South Carolina, covering three decades of family life. Weesie and Teeta move into Redwood Court soon after the Korean War. Segregation is still a given, with Jim Crow laws in place. Weesie is determined to make the neighborhood a caring community, where everyone is looked after.
The story is told from multiple POVs. At times, it was hard to keep up with who was related to whom. (Dameron was smart to include a list of characters at the beginning of the book.). The book eventually moves on to be primarily from Mika’s PoV in the 1990s.
This isn’t a fast paced story or one in which a lot happens. The strength of the book relies on the beautiful writing. It’s a character rich story of the American Dream. It’s a story where it’s the small intimate events that matter most - taking a dying man out to fish, the breaking of a jewelry box. But what really drew me to the book was the love between the family members. It left me with a real feeling of warmth.
There’s an underlying theme of genealogy - of not being able to trace back generations like white people take for granted. It was this theme that consistently hit home for me.
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

Genealogical research only works if there’s documentation. What happens when it’s impossible to find history from one's third or fourth great grandparents? Mika, a Black girl, has a school assignment to document her ancestors and asks her Grandpa Teeta for help. He said he didn't know about the far past but he added, “You have all these stories inside you.” He tells her to write them down and that’s what she does.

This is a heart-warming coming of age story that reads like a memoir. It’s a series of random events that happened on Redwood Court, a suburb in Columbia, SC. She starts with a list of characters which is helpful.

Mika is a girl we’d all like to hug. She recalled memories that have evolved from her childhood until she turned 16 years old. Some of the topics are how Mika's grandparents met, the Korean war, a Disney vacation, living near gangs, women’s issues and most of all, the love of their family. My favorite person was Teeta with everything he had to say. “You can’t escape genes.”

The stories that are told help us understand what it was like for a Black family in the South from 1968 to 2000. It takes us back briefly to when the ancestors lived on plantations as slaves. Some of the chapters were more interesting to me than others but she gave readers a realistic view of their lives. It would make a good book club discussion.

My thanks to The Dial Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of February 6, 2024.

This coming of age story set in the 90s was a nice departure from most of the other books I’ve read in this genre. That being said, although I enjoy a family saga, this one was hard to get into, as there were so many characters to keep track of. It was often hard to tell which person and/or POV the story was being told by.