Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen
By: Sarah Bird / Narrated By: Bahni Turpin
Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
The most beautiful pairing of Bird and Turpin!
Here we are: The first Accomplice Choice! And boy was I delighted with what y’all picked (even though I went ahead and listened to and reviewed the runner-up also).
At first, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. After all, how can an older, past middle age, white woman capture the voice of a young ex-slave during and after the Civil War? I mean, is that right? It certainly doesn’t seem politically correct.
But it’s enchanting. And Bird herself says she was put off by the concept too until she realized that Cathy was really, really, REALLY wanting the story out there.
Based on a true story of a true heroine that history has almost no record of, Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen is one helluva good time. 16+ hours fly by with twists, turns, held breaths, white knuckles, and some pretty funny writing in there too! There’s brutality, there’s racism and sexism, but mostly there’s pure and honest love. And bravery, bravery galore!
While I was a bit jumpy about the whole white person writing an African American perspective, one thing that really shines through is that this story HAD to be written by a woman. Because even though there’s the injustices whites heaped upon blacks, there’s even more sadism that men heaped upon women. What Cathy does to pass herself off as a man in the Buffalo Soldiers is clever but that she did so in such fear is telling. It was not safe to be a woman amongst so many men, color be damned.
If you have only one credit to spend this month, or if you have some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket, Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen is brilliant storytelling that’ll have you burning with rage, smiling in delight, and it’ll leave you feeling wistful and inspired by the end. Sarah Bird leaves off her semi-autobiographical fictional jaunts to give us a truly emotional experience, and Bahni Turpin’s narration is tops. Only Turpin can capture emotion, drama, and that occasional sucker punch. She is what gives Bird’s prose wings.
I didn’t want it to end, and had a tear or two in my eye and a lump in my throat by the time it did (and what did YOU think of the ending? Did she or didn’t she?!?).
I can’t wait for the movie. I mean, they GOTTA make this into a movie!
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.