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BOOK REVIEW: The Color of the Soul
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by: Vickie McDonough Dancing Word Reviewer
Title: The Color of The Soul Author: Tracey Bateman Publisher: Barbour Publishing ISBN: 1-59310-444-8 Genre: Inspirational/Historical/Fiction Andy Carmichael dreads returning to Georgia. He hasn’t been there since he was a boy. At ten years of age, he was forced to leave his family and was shipped off to live with the Rileys in Chicago for his own safety. Now a journalist, only the possibility of an intriguing story can entice Andy to put his life in danger and return to his highly prejudiced hometown to write the memoirs of a wealthy woman. Old Miss Penbrook, an icon of Southern literature, feeds Andy just enough information to keep him coming back to her plantation home. But Andy faces ridicule and hatred unlike anything he’s ever encountered as he trudges back and forth between Miss Penbrook’s home and the place he’s staying. The whites in this small Georgia town seem to have it in for the blacks. Just as he’s ready to throw in the towel, he makes some intriguing discoveries in some old diaries belonging to Miss Penbrook and another woman. As Andy delves into the fascinating story of a slave who could pass as white and the woman who saved her from the auction block and raised her like a daughter, he realizes there’s much more to this story than Miss Penbrook has led him to believe. Andy soon discovers that his own history is linked with Miss Penbrook’s. But can he get the answers to all his questions before the hundred-year-old woman dies? And will he survive the assaults from the whites in town, or will he too die before his story can be told? The Color of The Soul is an interesting, thought provoking book. Readers will be intrigued with the various storylines that are woven together into one story spanning a hundred years. When Cat and her slave mother are rescued at the auction block, she never dreams that event will change her life. Rather than being treated like a slave, her rescuer treats Cat as an equal with her own daughter. Cat grows up educated and refined, and because of her fair skin, she can pass as a white woman. But her benefactor’s daughter, Camilla, despises Cat and does all she can to make Cat’s life miserable. Camilla is her father’s daughter and believes black slaves are meant only to serve whites. But when things are their darkest, Camilla is forced to lean on Cat. A strange relationship emerges where enemies are sometimes friends. Author Tracey Bateman does an excellent job weaving together the different storylines. Scenes jump back and forth from Andy’s time period to Cat and Camilla’s, to the diaries, but it’s not confusing and is easy to follow. While this story is not always an easy one to read, you’ll walk away thinking about how you treat others, and hopefully, purpose to do better. The Color of The Soul contains romance, intrigue, suspense, and a light faith message. It is difficult to read this book without your emotions being challenged. Though Cat often made bad choices, it’s interesting to see how things worked out in the end. The Color of The Soulis the first book in The Penbrook Diaries series. (352 pages / $9.97) | |
