ISBN-13: 9780061840326
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: April 2010
416 pgs
Source: HarperCollins
(ARC)



Some stories run for their lives. They zig and zag, moving so fast you can't find the secret path of their steps through the fields, only soft prints here and there to let you know something with a quivering heart and a soft belly passed that way or this. (Pg 297)


I have heard that The Queen of Palmyra has been compared to Kathryn Stockett's The Help, which got me pretty excited because I have heard lots of ravings about that book. Back to The Queen of Palmyra, I have to say Minrose Gwin's writing style is absolutely beautiful (see above quote) and I was most surprised that this is in fact her debut novel.

Set in the 1960s, The Queen of Palmyra focus on the delicate issue between the black and the white community in Millwood, Mississippi, through the eye of a twelve-year-old girl Florence Forrest. The Forrest family lives in the town where everyone seems to know everybody, though at bottom there is a strain between the black and the white community. Florence's relationship with her parents has been a distant one. Unlike other girls her age she has never feel close with her mother, perhaps that has got to do with her drinking and the fact that she bakes and delivers cakes around town in order to support the household, aside the income from her husband who works as a burial insurance salesman.

Florence spends most of her time with her grandparents and Zenie's (named for Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra) family, and she find comfort and security in them because Florence knew she could always turn to them whenever she needs some assistance or advice. Florence felt her life further enriched when Zenie's niece, Eva Greene enter into her little simple world. It is no secret that there is a division between the black and white community in Millwood, and Eva's arrival obviously created an uproar not only due to her skin colour but also the fact that she is holding the same job as Florence's father, Win. The strain between the blacks and the whites got worsen, and Florence's life will never ever be the same again after a tragedy strikes concerning Eva.

I knew I would have been on an emotional roller-coaster the moment I started reading The Queen of Palmyra, after all it deals with a delicate issue - racism. And I want to reiterate that Minrose Gwin really has a way of making her characters and story come alive through her outstanding writing style. I cannot say I loved all her characters, but I did feel for Florence and Eva, after all they are nothing but innocent people. Florence does not fully understand the situation given her naivety due to her young age and this is one reason why I find her narrative so real and convincing. She managed to evoke emotions in you through her experience.

Though the novel mainly focus on Florence, The Queen of Palmyra is also about great characterisation and storytelling. I think the author has absolutely done a great job in writing some sensitive scenes without much descriptions but in a more subtle way (honestly I don't want to read how some characters are suffering in details, it makes me too sad to think about it). I know books on racism and violence are always not an easy read, but in a way they help to create awareness and I find that is a good thing.