Scarlet Carnation: A Novel
Scarlet Carnation: A Novel book cover

Scarlet Carnation: A Novel

Paperback – April 1, 2022

Price
$9.99
Format
Paperback
Pages
319
Publisher
Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1542020756
Dimensions
5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
Weight
10.9 ounces

Description

About the Author Laila Ibrahim is the bestselling author of Golden Poppies , Paper Wife , Mustard Seed , and Yellow Crocus . She 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 her novels. 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.

Features & Highlights

  • In an early twentieth-century America roiling with racial injustice, class divides, and WWI, two women fight for their dreams in a galvanizing novel by the bestselling author of
  • Golden Poppies
  • .
  • 1915. May and Naomi are extended family, their grandmothers’ lives inseparably entwined on a Virginia plantation in the volatile time leading up to the Civil War. For both women, the twentieth century promises social transformation and equal opportunity.
  • May, a young white woman, is on the brink of achieving the independent life she’s dreamed of since childhood. Naomi, a nurse, mother, and leader of the NAACP, has fulfilled her own dearest desire: buying a home for her family. But they both are about to learn that dreams can be destroyed in an instant. May’s future is upended, and she is forced to rely once again on her mother. Meanwhile, the white-majority neighborhood into which Naomi has moved is organizing against her while her sons are away fighting for their country.
  • In the tumult of a changing nation, these two women―whose grandmothers survived the Civil War―support each other’s quest for liberation and dignity. Both find the strength to confront injustice and the faith to thrive on their chosen paths.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(2.4K)
★★★★
25%
(2K)
★★★
15%
(1.2K)
★★
7%
(557)
23%
(1.8K)

Most Helpful Reviews

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wonderful story

I loved this book!
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Well researched and interesting read!

This well-researched book has so much to offer! The story takes place just over 100 years ago, in 1915-1918, and explores racial inequalities, women’s rights, women’s health, and unplanned pregnancies against the backdrop of issues of that time period, such as the Suffragette movement, the Presidential election, and World War I. I loved the theme of family, faith, acceptance, and love that flowed throughout the novel. May, a young white woman, and Naomi, a young black woman were distant cousins. Both women strived to be independent. Both women had struggles that were different, yet proved challenging. Both women had strong faith and family ties that helped them through their struggles.

My thanks to the author and @suzyapprovedbooktours for my gifted copy. My thoughts are my own.
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Great continuation

I’ve read all of the other books in this series and really liked them. I have to say each book covers tough subject matter, and this one is no exception. Parts of this book broke me, made me sick to my stomach, heartbroken, thrilled, beyond ticked off, wishing ill will on a few jerks, and so much more.

This book follows the grandchildren of the main characters in Yellow Crocus. May, Lisbeth’s granddaughter, is left with life altering choices when her boyfriend of a year deserts her after finding out she is pregnant. Not wanting to have a child out of wedlock, May decides to give the baby up and keep her pregnancy hidden. After some choices May made, she delivers her daughter at a home for unwed mothers and is told her is unfit to be adopted and will be sent to a home for imbeciles. The rest of the story follows May’s life after deciding to raise her handicap daughter and all the many changes that come with it….which isn’t easy for this time period.

Naomi, Mattie’s granddaughter, is still fighting racial injustice while trying to raise her family. Her life long dream was to own her own home, but some racist men are dead set in making it impossible for that to happen. On top of this drama, two of her sons enlist in the military to fight in WWI. How many battles do they have to be in? Racial injustice in the states, German battles overseas, upheaval at the Mexican border, a president set on taking away rights from women and colored people, and so much more.

The story goes back and forth between the two, but both are tied together in ways you can’t fathom. There were topics in this book that didn’t sit well with me. This time period had so many issues that I am glad my family and I don’t have to experience, though racism is still an issue.
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Another Winner!

Scarlet Carnation is the latest installment in the Series With No Name (and maybe needs one?) Like the other books, it's so timely, it feels more like a commentary on today, than one or more centuries ago. My only complaint was that I wanted more!
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A remarkable story about strong, determined women

I truly enjoyed how this story about two women, May and Naomi, was framed by the events of history, their own struggles, and a nation at war.

May and Naomi are distant relatives; their family lines forever braided together with their grandmothers on a plantation during the Civil War Era.

Now in 1915, May is young, single, and white. She dreams of being married and living independently of her parents when her boyfriend proposes.

Naomi is a black woman. She is a nurse, mother, and leader of the NAACP. She has dreams of owning her own home while continuing to help make progressive changes.

Hearing May and Noami’s POVs made this story much more rich and realistic, and the narrative felt very true to the era. The author brings in some heavy topics such as unwed mothers, eugenics, racism, disability, and WWI. Yet she tackles these issues without violence and with no major triggers.

A remarkable story about strong, determined women. Now I need to go back and read the rest of the series.