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The Unexpected
The Unexpected is a North American story of a miraculous friendship between a Black slave woman named May Bee in 1842, and a White college student named Dawn in 2016. The two women living three centuries apart are suddenly introduced on a Louisiana riverbank by a supernatural companion. They are joined together on a cotton plantation to solve a critical dilemma in the life of the slave woman and to show the female college student how much more they are alike than different. Through their new friendship, the lives of these two women are forever changed to bring hope to life past and life to come. Helen Collier developed her passion for writing early in her life and has always been a part of what she loves to do. Writing has been in her spirit since her mother placed a pencil in her left hand and told her, “God made you a left-handed writer for a reason - it’s up to you to share with the world what that reason is.” Her published books include; Looking for Trouble, published under a pen name Meow the Louisiana Catfish; Helen's trilogy series; Ms. Anna and The Tears from The Healing Tree, The Two Worlds of Ms. Anna, and Ms. Anna The Promise Keeper. Collier is a prolific writer of many different genres, but Sci-Fi is what she is most passionate about.
138 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 9, 2019
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March 5, 2020
I had the privilege to attend Helen Collier’s premier of this book in Seattle at an event hosted by Radical Women. I am very glad after hearing her speak to finally read her book and absorb some of its wisdom
Collier’s book really does the unexpected. By showing the life of May Bee, a black woman in slavery, through the eyes of Dawn, a white woman from modern suburbia, Collier demonstrates both the worlds apart and the interconnections of their two lives. Their relationship becomes a bond of solidarity that ripples through their two centuries and points to a way forward for achieving women’s liberation and racial justice.
The Unexpected shows how the history of slavery, of Jim Crow that followed, and the racism that continues today was built on the backs of unpaid labor. This free labor resulted in the wealth of the US as it reached its early capitalist ascent before the Civil War. Instead of receiving retribution after slavery’s abolition, black Americans became second class wage earners many times exploited through discrimination, prejudice, and systemic oppression and violence in the North and South. Collier repeatedly says this is not black history, but rather “everything that has occurred in this country is every American’s history—good or bad.” The book is also a cautionary tale of what could happen if we ignore or refuse to talk about these lessons of history.
What I loved most about this book is the Collier’s emphasis on women. “No one in US history was more ill treated than the female slave” and Collier never turns away from this throughout these two-hundred pages. You witness the brutality these women faced along with Dawn, as well as the resilience and strength they had to keep going. Dawn is not a perfect or impartial observer either. She is arrogant, misguided, and naive in many ways. But she is also sincere and capable of change, which is one of the most important lessons of the book.
I grew up a white man in Idaho and it took many years and many books and experiences to be capable of the change Dawn demonstrates. While none of us can time travel or commune with talking catfish, we can still take the lessons of The Unexpected to heart. And by being open about race, the horrors of the shared American history of black and white people, and fighting together to change it, perhaps we can finally do the unexpected and play the game of life as it ought to be played.
Collier’s book really does the unexpected. By showing the life of May Bee, a black woman in slavery, through the eyes of Dawn, a white woman from modern suburbia, Collier demonstrates both the worlds apart and the interconnections of their two lives. Their relationship becomes a bond of solidarity that ripples through their two centuries and points to a way forward for achieving women’s liberation and racial justice.
The Unexpected shows how the history of slavery, of Jim Crow that followed, and the racism that continues today was built on the backs of unpaid labor. This free labor resulted in the wealth of the US as it reached its early capitalist ascent before the Civil War. Instead of receiving retribution after slavery’s abolition, black Americans became second class wage earners many times exploited through discrimination, prejudice, and systemic oppression and violence in the North and South. Collier repeatedly says this is not black history, but rather “everything that has occurred in this country is every American’s history—good or bad.” The book is also a cautionary tale of what could happen if we ignore or refuse to talk about these lessons of history.
What I loved most about this book is the Collier’s emphasis on women. “No one in US history was more ill treated than the female slave” and Collier never turns away from this throughout these two-hundred pages. You witness the brutality these women faced along with Dawn, as well as the resilience and strength they had to keep going. Dawn is not a perfect or impartial observer either. She is arrogant, misguided, and naive in many ways. But she is also sincere and capable of change, which is one of the most important lessons of the book.
I grew up a white man in Idaho and it took many years and many books and experiences to be capable of the change Dawn demonstrates. While none of us can time travel or commune with talking catfish, we can still take the lessons of The Unexpected to heart. And by being open about race, the horrors of the shared American history of black and white people, and fighting together to change it, perhaps we can finally do the unexpected and play the game of life as it ought to be played.
Displaying 1 of 1 review