The Book of Lost Friends, by Lisa Wingate (2020)
The Book of Lost Friends follows two stories: One story takes place in the 1870 in post-Civil War Louisiana, and is told from the voice of young Hannie, a recently freed slave from the Gossett Plantation. The other story takes place nearly 100 years later, in 1987, and is told in the voice of a first-year English teacher who finds herself in South Louisiana and living in a house on the former Gossett Plantation.
After the Civil War ended, many of the freed slaved stayed on the Plantations working as share-croppers hoping to earn enough money to acquire some land. That was Hannie’s position in 1875. She had a strong memory, however, of having been separated from her mother as a young girl. She had dreams of reuniting with her family. Before the Civil War, Gossett Plantation had been a thriving and wealthy place. The owner, William Gossett, kept his (white) family on the plantation, but kept a secret Creole mistress in New Orleans, with whom he had a free-born daughter, Juneau Jane. William Gossett favored Juneau Jane, and she was highly educated. His white children were spoiled and self-centered.
After the Civil War, William Gossett left the family in search of his wayward son. His daughter, Lavinia, got it into her head to seek her father, and dragged Juneau Jane along with her. Juneau Jane had her own reason for seeking out William Gossett. She wanted to be sure that she would receive her promised inheritance. Hannie disguised herself as their male driver and the three of them took off for Texas. Along their journey, they discover the list of Lost Friends, where former slaves would have their story seeking their family members published in a newspaper. The stories would be read and posted in black churches throughout the South.
Jump to 1987. Benedetta “Benny” Silva found herself in the small rural town of (fictional) Augustine, Louisiana to teach English. She was running from her own past. Augustine was the home of the Gossett Plantation. The Gossetts still hold sway in the town. They own a major industry in the area and have a lot of political influence. They send their children to the school across the lake. Most of the students in Benny’s class were impoverished black students. They were disinterested in learning until Benny got them interested in researching the town’s history.
Every other chapter was in the voice of either Hennie or Benny. I found Hennie’s story to be a bit too disjointed. Her chapter would end in a cliff-hanger, but then, when the her story picked up again, the author would have moved on.
I moved to south Louisiana in 1987. Later in my career, I did a lot of real estate title work, and researched the lands that were former plantations. Her depiction of the town of Augustine rang true. Her brief description of the town’s plans for the unmarked cemetery, however, would not have been permitted under Louisiana law.
As I read the novel, I thought I knew where the author was leading us with respect to Benny. I did not, however, see the ending as it was written.
The author of this book also wrote the historical novel, Before We Were Yours, which I also read.
Read: July 15, 2020
4 Stars
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