Beginning ~ with a pair of crazy names

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie ~ by Ayana Mathis, 2013, fiction (Pennsylvania)

"Philadelphia and Jubilee!" August said when Hattie told him what she wanted to name their twins.  "You cain't give them babies no crazy names like that!"

My friend Donna got this book from the library the other day, and I've decided to read it, too.  Here's the story:

In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd, swept up by the tides of the Great Migration, flees Georgia and heads north.  Full of hope, she settles in Philadelphia to build a better life.  Instead she marries a man who will bring her nothing but disappointment, and watches helplessly as her firstborn twins are lost to an illness that a few pennies could have prevented.  Hattie gives birth to nine more children, whom she raises with grit, mettle, and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave.  She vows to prepare them to meet a world that will not be kind.  Their lives, captured here in twelve luminous threads, tell the story of a mother’s monumental courage — and a nation's tumultuous journey.

I found an excellent review of the book, making me even more excited about jumping into this novel.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.  Click here for today's Mister Linky.