Point of View

The novel is narrated in first person and in the present tense, alternating between two narrators—Josephine and Ava Jackson. Both the 1924 and 2017 timelines are narrated in the present tense. Presumably the 1855 timeline is in past tense because Josephine is recalling the events of her escape from slavery from the vantage point of 1924. Because the novel is written in first person, the reader is provided the interior monologue and emotional reactions of Josephine and Ava, but no other characters. The author conveys their struggles and conflicts movingly, as Josephine aches with loneliness even as she feels pride in all she has accomplished in her life, and Ava feels pulled in two different directions between maintaining her loyalty and commitment to Martha and agreeing with her mother that the situation at Martha's house is destructive and untenable.

The primary purpose of telling two stories through the...