Title: At the End of the Line

Author: Abby Vandiver, Kathryn Dionne



Publisher:  Media Web
Available: now
Pages:  274
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Received:  From Author for Review

 

 Synopsis:
A wrong number, and a cry of desperation at the end of the line, sparks a long distance friendship between two women who’ve never met. Through fourteen years of trouble and heartache of a stagnant domestic life, the struggle for civil rights, and the stigma of interracial relationships, a bond forms between the two that changes both of their lives forever.

It’s 1958, a time when women and Negroes are deemed second-class and are being second-guessed, from there arises a perfect storm for change and the perfect time for an unlikely friendship.

Beatrice “Beanie” Peterson, forced to marry at fifteen and live with two sister wives, six children, and an abusive husband twenty years her senior, is looking for a way out.

Adeline “Liddie” Garrison, friend of Jack Kennedy, wife of a prominent Boston business man, and resident of Beacon Hill has already found her way in.

My Take:
Speechless, this book left me without words.  There are so many things that are good with the book, I'll start with the bad.  Wait, I can't.  There is no bad.  Except for the realism in some of the scenes that made me want to scream and say there was no way this could have happened.  The sad truth is that everything in this book has happened, at least the historical aspects.  The religious persecution, which unfortunately still happens today, the racism, that still happens today, the inequality, I could go on. 
I couldn't put this book down.  As bad as it got and as bad as I wanted it to stop, I had to read. I needed to know that there was something good out of this.  I loved all the realism in the book, there is so much that happened in those years, that the newer generations don't really know about and this book helps show that from a personal aspect.  The research that had to go into this shows in the writing.  I loved how an unlikely friendship forms when we least expect it and to never take things for granted.  There were so many mysteries and lies woven along the way, I couldn't begin to imagine how everything could be tidied up by the end of the book, I really hope we learn more about what happens to these characters, but if not, I was still left satisfied if not a bit amazed. 
I highly recommend this book if you like realism in your books and history.  There are some dark parts, but this is historically accurate and unfortunately that was the way things were. 

PICK IT UP!

I CAN'T GIVE IT ENOUGH STARS!