Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Set in the early 19th century Oakland California, Laila Ibrahim's "Golden Poppies" is an excavation of race, gender and privilege as we follow the adventures of the Wagoner women. Though Sadie Wagoner is a white woman of considerable means and Jordan Wallace is a Black schoolteacher in Chicago, they have more in common than either realize. As Sadie grapples with her families' intricate history with slavery in the South, Jordan learns to trust in her long lost cousin.

Boy did this novel make me tired. Tired to the very core. Jordan and Naomi and all the wonderful Black characters in this novel carried the plotline on their shoulders, from providing medical care to Sadie in her time of need to sheltering her from her abusive husband to feeding her mother in her old age. And, as Jordan astutely notes early on in the book, even though the Wallace family is no longer slaves, they are still serving the needs of the Wagoner family. I'm also tired of the narrative of innocent, dewey eyed white women suddenly waking up one day and "realizing" racism is a thing. Sadie and her mother grew up on a literal plantation. They cannot be blind to the perils of the Wallace family, especially if they call them family. It's exhausting.

Well written, dramatic historical retelling, just might be too tired of the same narratives repeating themselves over and over again.