Stanford Solomon has a shocking, thirty-year-old secret. And it’s about to change the lives of everyone around him. Stanford Solomon is actually Abel Paisley, a man who faked his own death and stole the identity of his best friend.
And now, nearing the end of his life, Stanford is about to meet his firstborn daughter, Irene Paisley, a home health aide who has unwittingly shown up for her first day of work to tend to the father she thought was dead.
These Ghosts Are Family revolves around the consequences of Abel’s decision and tells the story of the Paisley family from colonial Jamaica to present day Harlem. There is Vera, whose widowhood forced her into the role of single mother. There are two daughters and a granddaughter who have never known they are related. And there are others, like the house boy who loved Vera, whose lives might have taken different courses if not for Abel Paisley’s actions.
And now, nearing the end of his life, Stanford is about to meet his firstborn daughter, Irene Paisley, a home health aide who has unwittingly shown up for her first day of work to tend to the father she thought was dead.
These Ghosts Are Family revolves around the consequences of Abel’s decision and tells the story of the Paisley family from colonial Jamaica to present day Harlem. There is Vera, whose widowhood forced her into the role of single mother. There are two daughters and a granddaughter who have never known they are related. And there are others, like the house boy who loved Vera, whose lives might have taken different courses if not for Abel Paisley’s actions.
These Ghosts Are Family explores the ways each character wrestles with their ghosts and struggles to forge independent identities outside of the family and their trauma. The result is an engrossing portrait of a family and individuals caught in the sweep of history, slavery, migration, and the more personal dramas of infidelity, lost love, and regret. This electric and luminous family saga announces the arrival of a new American talent. ~ taken from Goodreads
I have such mixed feeling about this book. I had high hopes going into it- the premise sucked me in and the first chapter had me excited to read on!
Then, the book switched to the past, which I knew was coming, but the dialect and all new characters with no introduction and no information of how they were connected left me completely confused. I will confess there were several times I had to make myself go on and continue reading. Many times I wanted to abandon this book.
I am glad that I carried on. There are a lot of characters in this book, and it was very hard to keep them all straight. I kept referring to the family tree printed at the beginning of the book while also making my own tree to add characters that aren't listed in the printed family tree.
This book is more like a series of mini stories of the past, then we get mini stories of the present and how they relate. The characters are interesting and the events surrounding them intriguing. I will confess that slavery in Jamaica is not something I have researched and read about before so it was interesting for the historical content.
The last chapter had me confused and internally yelling "WTF!" over and over again. I feel the novel could have simply been complete and ended without that weird final chapter. I felt like I went from reading a historical fiction novel to a paranormal fiction novel and the two genres were thrown together in a way that just didn't vibe.
Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me the eARC to read and give my honest opinion.
These Ghosts Are Family has a March 3,, 2020 release date fro US readers. I know this book is getting a lot of buzz, both negative and positive reviews. I urge you to preorder and read it. I am so glad I pressed on and finished this debut novel as this was a 4 star read for me!
Happy Reading!
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