Forty Acres: A Novel

by Phyllis R. Dixon

Folks sure do act funny, when it comes to money. No one gave the Washington family forty acres or a mule. C.W. Washington has risen from a sharecropper's son to one of the largest black landowners in the county. But a stroke has forced him to retire from farming. Now he must decide what happens to his land. His children are coming home for the Fourth of July family reunion. Each has a suggestion, unfortunately, none of them agree. 

Charles has farmed alongside C.W. all his life and believes the land is his birthright. Beverly doesn't mind her older brother getting the land, if he buys the rest of them out. Cecelia wants them to sell the land and split the money. And she hopes its fast, before her husband discovers how precarious her recreational casino visits have made their finances. Raymond warns of the conspiracy to dilute black economic power and opposes a land sale. What if one sibling is a successful businessman and doesn't need the money, and another is in prison and can't use it? And what about the startling revelation that one of them is not C.W.'s biological child? 

C.W. has asked his daughter Carolyn to sort out this mess. But she was planning to spend the holiday with her lover and make some fireworks of her own. Blacks left the land in droves in the early twentieth century and now represent less than two percent of all farmers. But wasn't the civil rights movement about progress and options? 

The Washingtons have overcome drought, Jim Crow and poverty. Now comes the hard part... The reunion should be a time of fellowship and fun. But this year, along with barbeque, fried catfish and hand-cranked ice cream, there'll be servings of suspicion, secrecy and greed. This Fourth of July, fireworks won't only be in the sky.

390 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2004

About the author

Ms. Dixon is the author of the novels, Forty Acres, Down Home Blues, Intermission and A Taste for More. She is also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the African American Woman’s Soul. She is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has also lived in Minneapolis, Houston, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She now calls Memphis, Tennessee home. She is a former bank regulator and book store owner. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and has three adult children. When not reading or writing, she enjoys classic movies, old school R&B and chocolate.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focus around a family reunion. There was a lot of character in the story line. Storyline was good.

[Carshena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the story

I enjoyed this simple everyday family drama. I think this author has promise. This was a fun story that just skimmed the surface, but I could see her talent peeking through. Some characters were more fleshed out than others and some we just saw the surface.....but I think with the right story and a smaller cast, Me. dixon can write the Great American Novel.

My favorite quote in the entire book was when Cecelia said, "Somehow I think he missed me while he was watching that sparrow".... if we are being truthful, we have all felt like that at some point in our lives!

A solid story and a solid storyteller. Can't wait to read more from this author!

[Elsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were many characters in Forty Acres. I am glad I read some other reviews that mentioned this, and I wrote down the siblings and their partners and children as they were introduced. I have never read about Black farming families before, and that part was interesting, but there was quite a bit of drama with all the siblings and their love lives. The appendix at the end gave me more information about Black land ownership than the whole rest of the book.

[Brenda Reed-Pilcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It reminded me of home. I'm from Pine Bluff, AR and the references to my home town were special. There were a lot of characters to keep up with, which made the read difficult at times.

[Robin Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good Read

This book was entertaining and full of unexpected twists and turns. I would definitely recommend this book to a friend.

[Tiffany Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a fast read but I wasn't a big fan of it. There are way to Many characters in this that its sometimes hard to keep up. Also a character will be introduced and then they seem to disappear. You also didn't get a lot of backstory on the characters that were recurring. Also none of them were all that likable.

[Darlene House · Rating 4 out of 5]

This family saga was centered around what happened during a family reunion. It was a page-turner that combined humor and drama with personal revelations when children had different opinions about what should happen to the family farm.

[BernieMck · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read with lots of characters to keep track of. This storey takes place during a family reunion in Arkansas. When the family members come home they bring a lot of interesting drama with them.