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Persy is being stalked. In hypnotic therapy, after her stalker, Frank, attacks her, Persy regresses into a past life. She watches her past self, Persephone, endure similar abuse by her husband, to whom she's given in a poker game. As Persy and her friends fight back against Frank and the anguish he causes her, she gets to know the women who help Persephone. In her pursuit of justice, Persy joins the legacy of her forebearers, former slaves and indigenous people in the Louisiana swamps, battling prejudice.
The book's use of the supernatural highlights its message of healing that goes beyond reparations and physical well-being. Scenes of women passing messages telepathically, making potions, and incanting are as graphic and believable as rape and other violent scenes, making a case for the legitimacy and power of unorthodox methods. The book paints them as direct and effective responses to racist groups' brutal witch hunts (and Frank's devious techniques), to which the law either turns a blind eye or can't do much about. As well as effectively countering evil, alternative medicine—hypnosis and regression—also serve to segue between storylines.
The chapters are short and shift between Persy's, the therapist's, Frank's, and Persephone's points of view. The characters are always on the move. Persy is a flight attendant, and Persephone travels through the countryside on her horse (when her husband allows) and across the swamp on foot. Descriptions of the Louisiana swamps' flora and fauna add a natural beauty to the book's moral richness and active pace. As Persy researches her past life, she enters a vast network of interconnected women. The book's portrayal of women 's friendships is heartening. Setting Persy and her friends alongside Persephone and her comrades, a link is drawn between hardships endured across ages, eased by enterprising sisters, and inspiring generations to come.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review