cover image Shadow of a Quarter Moon

Shadow of a Quarter Moon

Eileen Clymer Schwab. NAL, $15 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-451-23328-8

Jacy Lane, the daughter of a wealthy slave owner in North Carolina, is engaged to a brutish man, Garrison Yob, who uses her viciously when her parents aren't looking. When her father casts Garrison out, he takes revenge, and Jacy's father dies in a mysterious accident. Upon his death, Jacy's mother reveals that Jacy is actually the daughter of a slave. Her "mother" wants to force through the marriage anyway, but Jacy rebels, helping her real mother Jerlinda, slave half-brother Axel, and her beloved Rafe to freedom. However, Jacy soon realizes what she has avoided by living as a white woman. Jacy's transformation from spoiled white girl to self-actualized woman is a fascinating arc, though Jacy's "mother" and Garrison verge on caricature and the antebellum South is presented in broad strokes. Overall a strong novel, with compelling characters in Axel, Rafe, and especially Jelinda. (July)