The Roux in the Gumbo

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  5.0 OUT OF 5 STARS A VIVID FAMILY HISTORY

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  n nI won a copy of this book, so I read it. What a wonderful surprise I received, although harrowing in parts, it is a moving story of bravery and survival down the generations to the present time, when the author wrote the history of her family. n nThe book started with a recipe for Gumbo, a popular Louisiana soup dish, which was a nice touch. n nIt opens in the 1870’s with Gizelle, a runaway slave who has been shockingly abused by her owner, being rescued by a woman called Tallulah. Gizelle’s story really starts in 1850. As a baby she was sold to Sunrise Plantation and cruelly treated. At 4 years of age she was forced to pick cotton in the field, and at 6 years old the overseer sexually abused her. At 12 years old when saved by Tallulah, she is already pregnant by the overseer. nNot that the overseer was the only evil creature in this story, the plantation owners and their offspring were equally as bad. Apart from whipping and forcing their slaves to work in shocking conditions, they also raped the female slaves, and in fact took delight in breeding from them, so that they could sell the offspring for high prices. n nI won’t go into details because I don’t wish to spoil the story. The shocking treatment of slaves by the plantation owners, voodoo, the Civil War, the Klu Klux Klan, Prohibition, all are prominent in this book as each generation has their own story to tell. Some of the family members, particularly in the later generations lived outside the law, but the majority were decent people who were victims of the era in which they lived, and yet against such adversity they survived. n nI would highly recommend this book. The writer has done an amazing job to document her family history in such a manner. n n

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