TRUE GRACE (A Black Woman’s Journey to Save Her Family) explores the obstacles strewn in the path of Grace, a Black immigrant who suddenly finds herself solely responsible for the continued unity and sustenance of her family. Early on in the book, Grace catches her husband raping their second daughter—leading to the discovery that he has been abusing their eldest as well. This exposes the entire family to disgrace, stigmatization, starvation, and a host of other dreary possibilities.

Set in New York in the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, the story captures the heavy discrimination women endured, worsened by how dark their skin looked. The nonchalance of the cops, whom Grace calls for help, and their accusatory questions and looks speak volumes about the oppression women were subjected to during this period—as they were expected to endure silently and were shunned if they didn’t. Another instance of discrimination takes place during the hearing to decide what to do with Grace’s husband, in which everyone refuses to look at her and generally ignores her presence. The narration paints vivid pictures of racism through imagery and terminology, such as “boy” to refer to a fully grown man with children, the absence of hospitals for Black people (no matter how critical their conditions might be), and the refusal of doctors to help Black women deliver their children—among many other examples.

Author Karen E. Osborne crafts her characters with adroitness, conveying what feel like real people whose actions add to the authenticity of the narration. For instance, there is the inquisitive nature of the children, who are always asking uncomfortable questions and eventually stop asking about their father over time. The weight of expectation and criticism the older ones place on their mother is also expressed through their judging looks and spoken words of accusation, such as when Sylvie asks her mother, “Why can’t you work harder, make more money?”

Flashbacks flesh out the story by providing background information about Grace and how she married her husband at thirteen. Her fears, thoughts, worries, and anger are expressed through raw, emotive prose that carries the story. For instance, when she is forced to ask for help from her sister-in-law, she remarks, “I nodded my assent, feeling both humiliated and indebted, despite her disapproval and condemnation. But something else brewed and swept through me. Patricia’s eyes, Sylvie screaming her pain at me, fanned an anger. It boiled and hissed; its steam clouded my vision.” Grace shows her creativity and resourcefulness in devising different ways to fend for her family and manage their dwindling resources. Her growth as a character is evident by the end, as is the novel’s significance an entire century after its events take place.

Through a story that is as heartrending as it is gripping and inspiring, Karen E. Osborne’s TRUE GRACE (A Black Woman’s Journey to Save Her Family) explores racial divides and the injustice to which many women were (and still are) subjected.

~Gabriella Harrison for IndieReader