Book Review: The Twelve Mile Straight

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This book review is for the novel, ‘The Twelve Mile Straight’, by Eleanor Henderson.

Book Summary:

In Cotton County, Georgia, back in 1930, there is a house full of secrets. Two babies are born: one light-skinned and the other dark-skinned. They are said to be born to Elma Jesup, a white sharecropper’s daughter.

Accused of her rape, field hand Genus Jackson is lynched and dragged behind a truck down the Twelve-Mile Straight, the road to the nearby town.

People come from all around to see the black-and-white twins.

Elma raises her babies with the help of Nan, the orphaned daughter of the housekeeper. Nan was raised alongside Elma, who never knew her own mother. They are like sisters.

Lies don’t get less complicated. Unfortunately, the longer one lies, the more complicated the lies become.

Such is the problem for Elma in the hard-scrabble farm life she leads. The townspeople are naturally curious, and there is a lot of talk.

In the aftermath of the births, the farm’s inhabitants are forced to contend with their complicity in a series of events that left a man dead and a family irrevocably fractured.

Soon, it becomes clear that the ties that bind all of them together are more intricate than any could have ever imagined. As startling revelations mount, a web of lies begins to collapse around the family, destabilizing their precarious world and forcing all to reckon with the painful truth.

My Review:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I enjoyed reading about the relationship between Elma and Nan, who were raised like sisters.

The book explores the hate and racism that were so rampant in the 1930s. It breaks my heart to think that people were treated like that. Another time, another way of life, I guess you could say.

This is a wonderful book for those who love history, relationships, and the complications of love and secrets.

About The Author:

Eleanor Henderson was born in Greece, grew up in Florida, and attended Middlebury College and the University of Virginia, where she earned her MFA.

An associate professor at Ithaca College, she lives in Ithaca, New York, with her husband and two sons.