Scarlet Carnation — Books, Beauty, & Buys

By: Laila Ibrahim
Published Year: 2022
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 314

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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.

First Impressions

The cover of this book is very pretty and is what caught my eye in the first place. The summary sounded interesting and unlike other stories I had read so I was curious. The one thing that made me hesitant was finding out the author was white and also very religious.

What I thought

While this book may not be for everyone, I found it to be an interesting story.

May is white, in her 20s, and on the edge of what she begins to be the rest of her life. Naomi is black, older, and fighting for her rights in Oakland California in 1916. They are tied together through Naomi’s mother-in-law and May’s grandmother and are family through marriage. This story follows them as they deal with their lives.

This book is told in alternating chapters but they felt like completely separate stories. While they did overlap a little in the beginning, as the story went on it felt like I was reading two different books. I didn’t mind it, but I felt like Naomi’s story could’ve been it’s own book. May’s story was interesting and I enjoyed seeing it played out, but if felt like it was wrapped up about halfway through. I never quite understood why these stories were chosen to be told together.

The saddest part is how little the world has changed in 100 years even down to the pandemic and masks. It felt like everything I was reading was present day minus the use of technology and it made me sad and angry. All of the things that Naomi was fighting for is still pertinent today and it broke my heart.

I will warn you that there are a few very (and I mean very) graphic birthing scenes. These scenes might haunt me. And there were like 3 of them. I could’ve done with a little more mystery and less detail to be honest. I also could’ve done with a little less religion, but that’s a personal issue. I’m not a very religious person so I don’t relate to it and find it uncomfortable to read at times.

While this story being told might not be a new one, the perspective of it was interesting. I enjoyed May’s story and I enjoyed Naomi’s. I feel like both of them could’ve been fleshed out a little more, especially Naomi’s. And I know some people are going to view a white author writing the perspective of a black woman as problematic. I don’t know where I stand on that issue, personally. I know I her author’s note she acknowledged this and shared that she had a lot of people of color read this story and provide feedback.