Book of the Little Axe
Lauren Francis-Sharma, 2020
Grove/Atlantic Press
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802129369
Summary
Ambitious and masterfully-wrought, Lauren Francis-Sharma’s Book of the Little Axe is an incredible journey, spanning decades and oceans from Trinidad to the American West during the tumultuous days of warring colonial powers and westward expansion.
In 1796 Trinidad, young Rosa Rendon quietly but purposefully rebels against the life others expect her to lead. Bright, competitive, and opinionated, Rosa sees no reason she should learn to cook and keep house, for it is obvious her talents lie in running the farm she, alone, views as her birthright.
But when her homeland changes from Spanish to British rule, it becomes increasingly unclear whether its free black property owners—Rosa’s family among them—will be allowed to keep their assets, their land, and ultimately, their freedom.
By 1830, Rosa is living among the Crow Nation in Bighorn, Montana with her children and her husband, Edward Rose, a Crow chief. Her son Victor is of the age where he must seek his vision and become a man.
But his path forward is blocked by secrets Rosa has kept from him.
So Rosa must take him to where his story began and, in turn, retrace her own roots, acknowledging along the way, the painful events that forced her from the middle of an ocean to the rugged terrain of a far-away land (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Lauren Francis-Sharma is also the author of the novels, The Book of the Little Axe (2020) and ’Til the Well Runs Dry (2014). She resides near Washington, DC with her husband and two children and is the assistant director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the proprietor of the DC Writers’ Room. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Francis-Sharma...delivers a satisfying and perceptive transnational family saga …. In this masterly epic, the pleasure lies in piecing everything together.
Publishers Weekly
[T]he tale of Rosa Rendón is hard yet engrossing…. The various strands of the story come together to illuminate how power and race can warp a life…. A sad, compelling novel about a woman of color who fights against society’s expectation… an excellent choice for book groups. —W. Keith McCoy, Edison, NJ
Library Journal
[F]ascinating characters across the broad sweep of the American continent at a time of great tumult, warring colonial powers, the spread of slavery, and expansion West. This is a compelling saga of family… desires, all subject to the vagaries of powerful historical forces.
Booklist
[R]ichly evocative… enchanting.… [Still,] the book occasionally hits patches when too many complications and details clog its forward momentum. Sometimes you get impatient for the story to hurry back northward to the frisky, jaunty pace of Rosa and Victor’s harrowing adventures.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for BOOK OF THE LITTLE AXE … then take off on your own:
1. How would you describe Rosa Rendon and her role in the Rendon family? What about the other members of the family—Eve and Jeremias, especially.
2. Talk about the changes that take place in Trinidad and Tobago—and their effect on the Rendon family—when the British take over from the Spanish.
3. (Follow-up to Question 2) Before reading this novel, were you aware of the history of Trinidad and Tobago and the racism inherent in British rule?
4. The novel incorporates the perspectives of both Creadon Rampley and Victor, Rosa's son. What do they contribute to the story? Do you find their points-of-view engaging: what do they add to the storyline?
5. Describe Victor. Talk about what that takes place when Like-Wind returns after a winter hunt with a runaway slave. What makes this episode so consequential?
6. Talk about the initiation rites of passage for young men among the Apsaalooke tribe. What is the "vision" that Victor must aquire, and why is it crucial in finding his manhood?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)