This book review of The Mother of Honey by Ana Maria Luis, as always is harder to write because I want to make you decide to go and get your hands on a copy but I don’t want to give the whole plot away in the process.
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I was prepared to find this book gritty and possibly even difficult to read. The subject matter is not a light or trivial topic and the plight of those who experienced slavery is not something you would read and move on from easily. It’s a very different kind of genre of book than I usually read but I found myself hooked a few pages in and there was no going back.
It is gritty, and real. But it was also compelling to read. Narrated by the daughter of Iracy, you get a real sense of the strength of women, both in the time of the story, and even now as many women try to heal and rise up against ancestral and generational trauma.
“This compelling tale follows the story of Iracy, a woman with an unbreakable spirit who defies the conventions of her time and fights against the injustices of imperialism, poverty, and patriarchy.
From the harsh conditions of rural Brazil to the concrete jungle of Sao Paulo, Iracy’s journey is filled with love, loss, and triumphs. Along the way, she and her sisters Maria and Ana Maria Luisa are confronted with the harsh realities of the lives of indigenous and African slaves in colonized Brazil and the formation of the first mixed-race families.
Told from the perspective of Iracy’s daughter, the keeper of stories, “Mother of Honey” is a moving tribute to the resilience of the female spirit. The story explores the impacts of ancestry on our lives and those of our loved ones, and how we can find the strength to overcome even the most daunting challenges.”
It’s an incredibly thought provoking book. I usually speed read a book then go back to re read it, again, to get a deeper feel for the book but in this instance, I didn’t feel I could speed read and it feels like you are reading a piece of written history, rather than a story. It doesn’t always make for comfortable reading, but it’s incredibly compelling and I found myself immersed in the experience of the characters and learning things I didn’t know about the lives of the people the story is based around.
This is definitely a book I would recommend and it’s worth reading, then re reading it, because there are details you will appreciate more as you explore the story.
The Mother of Honey is available here*
About the author
Ana Maria Lui is a psychotherapist, climate activist, and upcoming author of an eco-novel called SevenMagpies Falling Dead from the Skies. With a passion for family stories, healing journeys, relationships, and thehuman plight, her target audience is anyone seeking to learn more about these topics.Ana Maria Luisa’s education in psychology has allowed her to explore her own ancestral trauma and understandthe healing power of writing. Ana Maria Luisa has been writing stories, poems, songs, as a healing tool, ever sinceshe can remember. She has written two plays during primary and secondary school highlighting the socialinjustices she witnessed growing up in Brazil. Writing her memoir and eco novel is a natural step as she continuesto try and make sense of the world and the people around her.