What readers think of Conjure Women, plus links to write your own review.

Voodoo.Hoodoo.Healing.The Civil War.Mother/child love.Midwifery.Slavery.These are an intricate part of Atakora's debut novel so intimately expressed with breathtaking intensity. The time period is before and after the devastation of the Civil War expressed through the slaves and master of a Southern plantation. Three women dominate the picture, MayBelle, the original Conjure or healer, her daughter Rue, who becomes schooled in her mother's ways, and Varina, a childhood playmate born to Rue's master.Shifting between chapters designated as "Slaverytime" and "Freedomtime" the author displays a powerful reckoning of slavery life and its injustices in heartbreaking detail. What I loved about this novel is the immersive quality to her writing, as if the author had indeed been a ghost watching their worlds unfold. Many secrets unfold through the twists and turns of the novel, through "healing methods",the birth of a"bedeviled" child with intense black eyes, and a roving preacher who has secrets of his own. Part of me had trouble with the relationship between Varina and Rue. Varina was so despicable to me in many ways, but Rue loved her none the less. Read this for a bird's eye view of slavery and war that highlights the plight of men and women and the lives of three stunning women.