Yellow Crocus
Written by Laila Ibrahim
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
Moments after Lisbeth is born, she’s taken from her mother and handed over to an enslaved wet nurse, Mattie, a young mother separated from her own infant son in order to care for her tiny charge. Thus begins an intense relationship that will shape both of their lives for decades to come. Though Lisbeth leads a life of privilege, she finds nothing but loneliness in the company of her overwhelmed mother and her distant, slave-owning father. As she grows older, Mattie becomes more like family to Lisbeth than her own kin and the girl’s visits to the slaves’ quarters—and their lively and loving community—bring them closer together than ever. But can two women in such disparate circumstances form a bond like theirs without consequence? This deeply moving tale of unlikely love traces the journey of these very different women as each searches for freedom and dignity.
Revised edition: This edition of Yellow Crocus includes editorial revisions.
Laila Ibrahim
Laila Ibrahim spent much of her career as a preschool director, a birth doula, and a religious educator. That work, coupled with her education in developmental psychology and attachment theory, provided ample fodder for the story lines of her bestselling novels: Paper Wife, Mustard Seed, and Yellow Crocus. She’s a devout Unitarian Universalist, determined to do her part to add a little more love and justice to our beautiful and painful world. She lives with her wonderful wife, Rinda, and two other families in a small cohousing community in Berkeley, California. Her young adult children are her pride and joy. Laila is blessed to be working full-time as a novelist. When she isn’t writing, she likes to take walks with friends, do jigsaw puzzles, play games, work in the garden, travel, cook, and eat all kinds of delicious food. Visit the author at www.lailaibrahim.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lailaibrahim.author.
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Reviews for Yellow Crocus
980 ratings91 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I found this to be a very trite tale of a naive southern Belle who, excruciating slowly, became aware of the evils of slavery… with a small bit of life in the quarters and the Underground Railroad mixed in.
Lisbeths story was far too formulaic.. to the point of being trite. There’s nothing memorable beyond an excellent narrator.1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What would have happened if witnessing the rape of a slave did not occur. Was she so blinded that she could not see the dehumanization of people taking place all around her.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's a good read awesome to read the next3 biiks
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unbelievably good. The narrators were extraordinary. They brought the characters to live! I could stop listening...it was like a vivid movie in my mind.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed following the lives of the 2 main characters
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5First the good things - the entire narration was consistently on point. The story was built up beautifully and there was a strong attention to detail. The author developed the relationship between Mattie and Lisbeth quite well but unfortunately, this meant that the other characters were left in the shadows. E.g. there was not much chemistry between Lisbeth and Matthew. And the book tended to oversimplify a lot of things. That being said, it was a good read with a well-tied ending.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great but it is a novel which wasn’t clear in the beginning.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful story I enjoyed this book so much and audio was spot on!!
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Really did not enjoy this book had to end early
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a wonderful, true story about life coming, full circle. It’s an honest story about the hierarchy of our society that hopefully we have outgrown. Very well written.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful story ❤️ . . . . . . .
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best books I’ve ever read! It’s a must!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beautiful story of pre-Civil War America. Interesting from the first page.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing! The narration really brought this book to life. I can’t wait to read/listen to the next two in the series. Very highly recommend.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This isn't the sort of book I would normally read but I'm glad that I did. I enjoying it from beginning to end and thought it was enjoyable and thought provoking. It looses a star for a little bit too much of a convenient end but that's all the negative comments I can give. All in all, an excellently enjoyable book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved this book. Sad, sad time in history but the story was very, very good
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I don’t write many reviews but everything about this book was absolutely fantastic. Couldn’t put it down
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great writer and great book wish I would’ve read this one first before her second one
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great read, great story telling! Plus it has a second book too
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent story and narration. I enjoyed every minute of it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The story and narrator in audio did a great job!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed the book but it cut off the last few chapters.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I felt like it was a slow build. The last 3/4 of the book was the best part - enough so that I would say that I enjoyed it enough to read the sequel. But maybe not enough to put on my list of good reads. The Kitchen House is comparable and much better.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5What a great book. I so enjoyed the novel and the tale of two women from different worlds that loved each other.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I love Bahni Turpin, and will read about anything she narrates. This book was hard for me to enjoy, exactly. I immediately loved Mattie. I didn’t love Lisbeth right away, and it was painful and irritating to see how she didn’t question the wrongness of the situation until later, but of course that was reality. I really loved the ending and felt like it was satisfying - though I don’t actually know how accurate it was for Lisbeth’s character to do what she did being a white woman of the time. I read this was based on a true story but couldn’t actually find anything about that anywhere, and it’s hard to imagine any Slave feeling anything but contempt for anyone associated with their enslavement - the trope of a “happy Mamy” needs to be done away with, though I probably wouldn’t characterize Mattie in that way, necessarily. I think I’m just wanting to read more books about Black women that focus on things about them other than slavery.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I was happy to see how it ended. I know it was a cruel time but pleased The author didn’t write about it too graphically
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very relevant book to read today. It made me really understand more about the racism in our country and how it started. Narrator was great.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderfully narrated. Laughed, cried and enjoyed thoroughly. Would certainly recommend
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elizabeth broke with tradition by realizing slavery was wrong and choosing to marry her choice.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A heartbreakingly beautiful account of very real human struggle and pain. Outstanding.