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A Sitting in St. James
CCBC Review:
St. James Parish, Louisiana, 1860: Aging, bitter, spiteful Madame Sylvie Guilbert and her rakish son, Lucien, embody entitlement even as the family plantation struggles financially. Lucien’s son Byron is secretly, passionately in love with his West Point classmate Pearce but will do his family duty and marry into wealth. Rosalie is Lucien’s talented quadroon daughter (Lucien raped her mother years before, just as he continues to matter-of-factly rape other enslaved women); she knows more about the business of the estate than Byron, while Madame Sylvia doesn’t acknowledge her existence. Visiting Jane Chatham is a young white woman who cares single-mindedly for her horse, enduring Madame Sylvie’s irrelevant tutelage on being a lady because she’s been told she must if she wants to keep riding. Thisbe, Madame Sylvie’s maid, is a smart and observant young Black woman who knows to keep her thoughts, ideas, and feelings to herself. Into this world comes Claude Le Brun, a white northern painter descended from a French artist; Madame Sylvie, unaware of how deeply Claude’s perspective differs from her own, insists he paint her portrait. The white characters in this masterful, mature work are diverse and singular; many face or have faced their own unique struggles, challenges, and tragedies. But what almost all have in common is unquestioning allegiance—whether casual or vehement—to ideas and a way of life that deny the humanity of the Black lives in their midst. ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
CCBC Age Recommendation: Age 16 and older
Age Range:
Grades 9-12 (Age 14 and older)
Format:
Novel
Subjects:
19th Century
Class Issues
Families
Gays
Historical Fiction
LGBTQ+ Persons
Multiracial Characters/Families
Oppression
Perspective/Point of View
Racism
Sexism
Sexual Assault and Rape
Slavery
Diversity subject:
Black/African
On CCBC Booklists:
Race and Racism: Selected Books for Pre-K to Grade 12
James: Retellings & Reimaginings and 19th-Century Black Experiences
Sophisticated and Substantial Books for Teens
Publishers:
HarperCollins, Quill Tree
Publish Year: 2021
Pages: 460
ISBN: 9780062367297
CCBC Location: Fiction, Williams-Garcia