Title: Conjure Women Author: Afia Atakora
Published: April 7, 2020
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Page Count: 416
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother's footsteps as a midwife; and their master's daughter Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women and their community come to a head at the beginning of a war and at the birth of an accursed child, who sets the townspeople alight with fear and a spreading superstition that threatens their newly won, tenuous freedom.
Magnificently written, brilliantly researched, richly imagined, Conjure Women moves back and forth in time to tell the haunting story of Rue, Varina, and May Belle, their passions and friendships, and the lengths they will go to save themselves and those they love.
Miss Rue lives in the shadow of her former master’s plantation house—now a crumbled ruin. Since the war, she and her neighbors have carved a life for themselves among the foxes and the woods. But peace is tenuous. A strange baby is born; a traveling preacher arrives in town; men in white robes ride through the night. And Rue? She has secrets that could threaten everything.
Afia Atakora’s debut novel is primarily set in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, but the story gracefully weaves back and forth across time in such a way that new information is always followed by a satisfying twist. Readers come to know not only Miss Rue, but her mother, her white mistress, and several other women who support each other but also clash throughout Rue’s life. Conjure Women is an beautifully written novel that explores slavery, womanhood, and freedom.
Conjure Women is not a story that seeks to shock readers’ conscience through an exquisitely detailed laundry list of atrocities visited upon Black people by their white masters. Yet neither does Atakora pretend such atrocities didn’t happen. Rather, this novel dwells in a more nuanced middle place, where Rue and her neighbors do find snatches of joy, but always from beneath the cloud of oppression. After the war, we see some succeed and find a particular kind of happiness; others fare not so well. Which is not to say that any Black person, ever in the history of the United States has been able to live free of racism. Atakora never pretends as much. But this book does show that Reconstruction was a tumultuous time: hopeful to many but an agony to others. Amid the upheaval and tension, none knew where the dust would settle.
This is, I think, a book that would sit even better on a second reading. Though the plot is not overly complex, there are a lot of nuances and subtleties in how the narrative jumps back and forth across time. I think there’s also a lot of symbolism and purposeful imagery in the text (the foxes that “haunt” the plantation, for instance) that would be better appreciated on a second read. My point: Conjure Women is a novel rich with meaning. Every moment spent with Miss Rue and the other women feels intentional.
Veering off topic a little: I think it would be good for American society in general if Black-authored books about slavery became just as prevalent as novels about World War II. No one seems to have as much trouble understanding the horridness of the Holocaust; but white Americans love to say that “slavery wasn’t that bad!” Art is an important window into the psychology of a society. There’s also much damage to be overcome when you consider that the “primary” depiction of slavery in the South has been Gone with the Wind for about 100 years. Conjure Women is an amazing novel that serves well to counter that sugar-sweet narrative. It’s also just damn good writing.
