Ratings6
Average rating4.2
A thrilling gothic horror novel about biracial twin sisters separated at birth, perfect for fans of Lovecraft Country and The Vanishing Half As infants, twin sisters Charlie Yates and Magnolia Heathwood were secretly separated after the brutal lynching of their parents, who died for loving across the color line. Now, at the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, Charlie is a young Black organizer in Harlem, while white-passing Magnolia is the heiress to a cotton plantation in rural Georgia. Magnolia knows nothing of her racial heritage, but secrets are hard to keep in a town haunted by the ghosts of its slave-holding past. When Magnolia finally learns the truth, her reflection mysteriously disappears from mirrors—the sign of a terrible curse. Meanwhile, in Harlem, Charlie's beloved grandmother falls ill. Her final wish is to be buried back home in Georgia—and, unbeknownst to Charlie, to see her long-lost granddaughter, Magnolia Heathwood, one last time. So Charlie travels into the Deep South, confronting the land of her worst nightmares—and Jim Crow segregation. The sisters reunite as teenagers in the deeply haunted town of Eureka, Georgia, where ghosts linger centuries after their time and dangers lurk behind every mirror. They couldn’t be more different, but they will need each other to put the hauntings of the past to rest, to break the mirrors’ deadly curse—and to discover the meaning of sisterhood in a racially divided land.
Reviews with the most likes.
What a great book. McWilliams crafts beautiful characters, and you can so clearly see the divide in these character's lives, drawing a raw and visceral picture of Jim Crow Era discrimination and suffering it brings. The sisters are written beautifully and highlight so well the disparities, the southern setting is immaculate, and the paranormal aspects while background are memorable.
A Southern gothic book that isn't weirdly nostalgic about the Confederacy/antebellum South! You love to see it. It's also a powerful book about sisterhood, colorism and passing, and the untrustworthiness of white “allies” like Finch Waylon.
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