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Jubilee
When Bianca appears late one night at her brother's house in Santa Ana, she is barely conscious, though not alone. Jubilee, wrapped in a fuzzy pink romper, is buckled into a car seat. Jubilee, who Bianca feeds and clothes and bathes and loves. Jubilee, who Bianca could not leave behind. Jubilee, a doll in her arms.
Told in alternating points of view, Jubilee reveals both the haunting power of our lived experiences and the surreal possibility of the present to heal the past.
The first thread, "Before Jubilee," follows Bianca in her girlhood home on the Mexicali border as she struggles with her high school sweetheart, Gabe, and a secret they've shared since she was fifteen.
The second thread, "With Jubilee," is told from the point of view of her new love, Joshua, who along with Bianca's family helps her cope with a mysterious trauma by accepting Jubilee as part of the family. As Joshua's love for Bianca grows, he fears that Jubilee has the power to tear his tiny family apart.
Alternating chapters give readers a unique perspective on Bianca's present and on her relationship with Jubilee as her past life with Gabe comes to a catastrophic end.
Jubilee is at once a darkly suspenseful psychological drama and a luminous reflection on how beauty emerges from even the most traumatic of experiences.
Told in alternating points of view, Jubilee reveals both the haunting power of our lived experiences and the surreal possibility of the present to heal the past.
The first thread, "Before Jubilee," follows Bianca in her girlhood home on the Mexicali border as she struggles with her high school sweetheart, Gabe, and a secret they've shared since she was fifteen.
The second thread, "With Jubilee," is told from the point of view of her new love, Joshua, who along with Bianca's family helps her cope with a mysterious trauma by accepting Jubilee as part of the family. As Joshua's love for Bianca grows, he fears that Jubilee has the power to tear his tiny family apart.
Alternating chapters give readers a unique perspective on Bianca's present and on her relationship with Jubilee as her past life with Gabe comes to a catastrophic end.
Jubilee is at once a darkly suspenseful psychological drama and a luminous reflection on how beauty emerges from even the most traumatic of experiences.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2020
15 people are currently reading
2556 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Givhan
24 books586 followersJennifer Givhan is a Mexican-American and Indigenous poet and novelist from the Southwestern desert and the recipient of poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and PEN/Rosenthal Emerging Voices. Her novel Salt Bones is coming this July 22, 2025 from Mulholland/Little, Brown.
She holds a Master’s degree from California State University Fullerton and a Master’s in Fine Arts from Warren Wilson College. She is the author of five full-length poetry collections, including Rosa’s Einstein (University of Arizona Press), and the novels Trinity Sight and Jubilee (Blackstone Publishing), which were finalists for the Arizona-New Mexico Book Awards and won The Southwest Book Award. Her newest poetry collection Belly to the Brutal (Wesleyan University Press) and novel River Woman, River Demon (Blackstone Publishing) both draw from her practice of brujería. Her latest novel was chosen for Amazon’s Book Club and as a National Together We Read Library Pick and was featured on CBS Mornings. It also won an International Latino Book Award in the Rudolfo Anaya Latino-Focused Fiction category.
Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, POETRY, TriQuarterly, The Boston Review, The Rumpus, Salon, Ploughshares, and many others. She’s received the Southwest Book Award, New Ohio Review’s Poetry Prize, Phoebe Journal’s Greg Grummer Poetry Prize, the Pinch Journal Poetry Prize, and Cutthroat’s Joy Harjo Poetry Prize.
Givhan has taught at the University of Washington Bothell’s MFA program as well as Western New Mexico University and has guest lectured at universities across the country. She was the 2024 Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at The University of New Mexico.
She would love to hear from you at jennifergivhan.com and you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for inspiration, prompts, and real talk about the publishing world and life as a mama writer.
https://www.instagram.com/jenngivhan/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpEs...
https://www.facebook.com/jenn.givhan.3/
She holds a Master’s degree from California State University Fullerton and a Master’s in Fine Arts from Warren Wilson College. She is the author of five full-length poetry collections, including Rosa’s Einstein (University of Arizona Press), and the novels Trinity Sight and Jubilee (Blackstone Publishing), which were finalists for the Arizona-New Mexico Book Awards and won The Southwest Book Award. Her newest poetry collection Belly to the Brutal (Wesleyan University Press) and novel River Woman, River Demon (Blackstone Publishing) both draw from her practice of brujería. Her latest novel was chosen for Amazon’s Book Club and as a National Together We Read Library Pick and was featured on CBS Mornings. It also won an International Latino Book Award in the Rudolfo Anaya Latino-Focused Fiction category.
Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, POETRY, TriQuarterly, The Boston Review, The Rumpus, Salon, Ploughshares, and many others. She’s received the Southwest Book Award, New Ohio Review’s Poetry Prize, Phoebe Journal’s Greg Grummer Poetry Prize, the Pinch Journal Poetry Prize, and Cutthroat’s Joy Harjo Poetry Prize.
Givhan has taught at the University of Washington Bothell’s MFA program as well as Western New Mexico University and has guest lectured at universities across the country. She was the 2024 Visiting Professor of Creative Writing at The University of New Mexico.
She would love to hear from you at jennifergivhan.com and you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for inspiration, prompts, and real talk about the publishing world and life as a mama writer.
https://www.instagram.com/jenngivhan/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpEs...
https://www.facebook.com/jenn.givhan.3/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
October 10, 2020
I went into Jubilee blind with the only knowledge of the cover being gorgeous. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I ended up loving this book.
The story is about Bianca being a devoted mother to her beautiful baby girl Jubilee. The only thing is that Jubilee is actually a doll. (I went into this not reading the synopsis so this is not a spoiler however I was actually surprised by this reveal in the first chapter). It’s told in alternating chapters of Bianca’s past, “Before Jubilee” and “During Jubilee”. We learn about Bianca’s traumatic past and the path that led her to Jubilee. The during Jubilee chapters are current where Bianca meets Joshua and they fall in love. I’m not going to give anymore on the story but I thought the story was absolutely heart breaking but beautiful.
Jubilee is a story of mental illness, love, loss, strength, and hope. I was completely invested from the very beginning to the end. Bianca’s pain is just so raw and it felt absolutely real. My heart hurt for her and this book actually made me cry.
Now the only thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars was that the writing in the beginning didn’t have the greatest flow. It felt disjointed and a little arbitrary. For example, I felt that it would hone in one a specific detail and go off on a tangent about it. There was a lot of telling rather than showing when I just wanted to hear about the story. However towards the middle, I’m not sure if I just got used to it or if the writing improved but I found the writing beautiful and poetic. This book actually had me in tears at one point. My rating is a strong 4.5 and I plan on buying this book for my collection. I will be thinking about Bianca's story for a very long time to come.
Trigger warnings: abuse, suicide, miscarriages
Thanks so much to Netgalley and to Blackstone publishing for advanced copy of this book, it is now available!
The story is about Bianca being a devoted mother to her beautiful baby girl Jubilee. The only thing is that Jubilee is actually a doll. (I went into this not reading the synopsis so this is not a spoiler however I was actually surprised by this reveal in the first chapter). It’s told in alternating chapters of Bianca’s past, “Before Jubilee” and “During Jubilee”. We learn about Bianca’s traumatic past and the path that led her to Jubilee. The during Jubilee chapters are current where Bianca meets Joshua and they fall in love. I’m not going to give anymore on the story but I thought the story was absolutely heart breaking but beautiful.
Jubilee is a story of mental illness, love, loss, strength, and hope. I was completely invested from the very beginning to the end. Bianca’s pain is just so raw and it felt absolutely real. My heart hurt for her and this book actually made me cry.
Now the only thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars was that the writing in the beginning didn’t have the greatest flow. It felt disjointed and a little arbitrary. For example, I felt that it would hone in one a specific detail and go off on a tangent about it. There was a lot of telling rather than showing when I just wanted to hear about the story. However towards the middle, I’m not sure if I just got used to it or if the writing improved but I found the writing beautiful and poetic. This book actually had me in tears at one point. My rating is a strong 4.5 and I plan on buying this book for my collection. I will be thinking about Bianca's story for a very long time to come.
Trigger warnings: abuse, suicide, miscarriages
Thanks so much to Netgalley and to Blackstone publishing for advanced copy of this book, it is now available!
July 30, 2020
"Jubilee" is written in a way that made it hard for me to access the story because I was distracted by the word choices and sentence constructions.
For instance, when I read a sentence like this one:
"She pressed her ear against the cool, smooth metal and listened as he slid on a condom, then thrust into her."
I experience all kinds of distracting questions in my head, like: "What does it sound like when you 'listen' to someone slide a condom on?" and also: "Why is she 'listening' to him thrust into her, vs. some other verb?"
It's an example of the way word choice interrupted my fictional dream in this novel. It happened to me every few sentences. My attention to the literal meanings of language is higher than most readers, and some people will read the sentence above, and many others just like it, and not get what the heck my problem is.
I also wondered if my problem might be as small as a missing comma. I spent some time thinking that if the author had instead written:
"She pressed her ear against the cool, smooth metal and listened, as he slid on a condom, then thrust into her."
adding a comma after "listened."
So now the sentence tips, where she's listening to the "cool, smooth metal." This is actually plausible in context, because she's in a laundry room, and the "cool, smooth metal" that she's pressing her ear to is a clothes dryer. So then I wonder, is the dryer running? Is she listening to the dryer? ... which sends me back a few pages to see if there is any mention of the dryer running...but no, there is not...and then I realize if she's "listening" to the dryer, then it would be "warm, smooth metal" anyway, not "cool, smooth metal."
So there you go. If you are the kind of reader who can leap immediately to a plausible explanation of what the author meant to write, and ignore what's actually on the page, then you might enjoy this novel a good deal more than I did.
For instance, when I read a sentence like this one:
"She pressed her ear against the cool, smooth metal and listened as he slid on a condom, then thrust into her."
I experience all kinds of distracting questions in my head, like: "What does it sound like when you 'listen' to someone slide a condom on?" and also: "Why is she 'listening' to him thrust into her, vs. some other verb?"
It's an example of the way word choice interrupted my fictional dream in this novel. It happened to me every few sentences. My attention to the literal meanings of language is higher than most readers, and some people will read the sentence above, and many others just like it, and not get what the heck my problem is.
I also wondered if my problem might be as small as a missing comma. I spent some time thinking that if the author had instead written:
"She pressed her ear against the cool, smooth metal and listened, as he slid on a condom, then thrust into her."
adding a comma after "listened."
So now the sentence tips, where she's listening to the "cool, smooth metal." This is actually plausible in context, because she's in a laundry room, and the "cool, smooth metal" that she's pressing her ear to is a clothes dryer. So then I wonder, is the dryer running? Is she listening to the dryer? ... which sends me back a few pages to see if there is any mention of the dryer running...but no, there is not...and then I realize if she's "listening" to the dryer, then it would be "warm, smooth metal" anyway, not "cool, smooth metal."
So there you go. If you are the kind of reader who can leap immediately to a plausible explanation of what the author meant to write, and ignore what's actually on the page, then you might enjoy this novel a good deal more than I did.
May 26, 2020
I finished this incomparably beautiful book yesterday, and I cannot stop thinking about it. With prose and storytelling reminiscent of Toni Morrison, but with a voice all her own, Jennifer Givhan has written a fierce and unforgettable novel. When Bianca arrives at her brother’s house one night, she is bleeding, barely conscious, and clinging to a doll named Jubilee who she is convinced is her daughter. Her family soon realizes that she is suffering from a delusion spurred on by an unknown trauma, and they decide to play along with Bianca’s unwavering belief in Jubilee. As Bianca heals physically, she still relies on Jubilee as a shield against the ways she suffers emotionally—even when she meets Joshua, a kind single father who’s immediately drawn to Bianca. The story weaves in and out between Bianca’s past with her ex-boyfriend Gabe and her present with Joshua, each narrative as riveting and stunning as the other, until the reader learns the full, poignant story of who Jubilee is and what she represents. Although this book isn’t out until October, I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to read it early, and I definitely recommend pre-ordering it. Here is my official blurb for the book: “An exquisite story of loss and healing, JUBILEE explores the unmatched power of a parent’s love as a woman navigates a mysterious trauma manifesting in the belief that a doll is her daughter. This book is at once an engrossing page-turner and an empowering love letter to women—those who know their strength, and those who fight to discover it. Jennifer Givhan is a gorgeous and passionate storyteller whose shimmering lyricism enchants the reader on every page.”
September 25, 2020
via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞. 𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐲.
Jubilee is Bianca Vogelsang’s baby, who she watches over with fierce devotion and tenderness. She is a good, loving mother to her little one, the only problem is that Jubilee is a doll. When she shows up at her brother’s house in Santa Anna, she is a broken twenty-year-old who was meant to be away at University entering her junior year, writing her own poetry collection. Instead, on this dark night, she has returned, barely a sketch of her former self, bleeding, looking more like the walking dead. Worse, as she stands at the doorstep she has a baby bundled in her arm, as he hugs her, Matty feels she is burning up with a fever. Convincing her to let him hold the baby as he leads her into the sanctuary of his house, he realizes immediately the baby isn’t alive nor even human, it’s a doll. Matty isn’t able to make sense of what is happening, in her weakened state she can’t form the words to answer him, and Matty calls for reinforcement- their mother. Once there she knows they must rush Bianca to the hospital where they discover beyond her wrecked body, her mind has lost it’s grasp. Does she really believe her doll is a real baby?
The novel flashes back to the early days of Bianca “Bee” and high school sweetheart Gabe’s relationship. Moving too fast, getting caught up in bigger secrets, she makes a painful decision for the greater good at fifteen to later be betrayed by him when he leaves for college. With Katrina their story becomes a love triangle, with ties Gabe cannot easily sever and Bee always left waiting in the wings. Gabe knows how to “handle” his women when they act out of line and with her resentment and painful memories of the choices she made, Bee is quick to challenge him. But his touch always soothes the wounds. Still, they stick to each other, despite Gabe’s habit of coming and going as he pleases. When she needs him most after a terrible loss, he is with Katrina, who has everything she had to sacrifice. Things spiral out of control until we get to the bottom of the trauma and the reason someone as intelligent, and gifted as Bianca is now clinging to a baby doll.
In present time: Bianca is living with her brother Matty and his partner Handro, enrolled in college classes and attending therapy sessions entrusting Matty with Jubliee’s care. She has met someone in her Mexican Art History class, Joshua Walker. Joshua knows all too well about hardship having grown up in the foster system, even separated from his sister Olivia. When she got tangled up in the criminal justice system he moved the moon and stars to become the main caregiver to his nephew Jayden, who for all intents and purposes is his son. When he invites Bianca, a gorgeous, articulate, intelligent woman (who can carry on a conversation about Frida Kahlo and surrealism) on a date and into he and Jayden’s structured, safe lives he doesn’t yet know about her delusion. He learns soon enough it isn’t a joke nor a test, familiar with troubled youth and patients exhibiting early signs of psychosis, he is on high alert. First and foremost in his mind is Jayden’s safety, but beyond the doll, she seems so normal, certainly doesn’t appear to be harboring dark thoughts. What has he gotten himself into? Why can’t he walk away? What is this going to mean down the road for his little family of two?
Despite his misgivings, he and Bianca fall in love and just like her family at the advice of Bee’s doctor, allows her to work through her pain by way of Jubilee. But will she ever be able to detach from this crack in reality? What is at the heart of it? What exactly happened between she and Gabe? Joshua and Gabe are polar opposites, what violence occurred to make Gabe so repellant? Is he welcoming ruin into the only stable home Jayden has?
I went between 3 and 4 stars rating this novel, because at times I struggled with the flow of past to present, but it is an important storyline simply for the explosive relationship versus the healing one with Josh. The psychological break that is vital to Bianca coping with a bottomless loss is beautifully explored in this story. As is the fear other’s have when someone exhibits mental illness because most romantic interests would run the other way in terror. The abuses, the returning willingly to a cycle of degradation, how a childhood lacking made the things Gabe could give her so irresistible, blinding her to the uglier side. Then the sacrifice she made, far too naïve to understand the repercussions and pain that would follow. Adults get caught in the same web, having an intimate history with someone makes it hard to break free, it’s far more intensified in a teenager who lacks the experience that comes with maturity. Unlike privileged girls, for Bianca poverty is at the heart of her lack of choices, girls like her face consequences those with means never will. In the beginning, how she is defined and treated by others (Gabe’s family in particular) when the word ‘gringa’ is attributed to her, because her father is white and not Mexican like her mother, exposes another cross she has to bear. Laughter from his family when she mentions being a writer, her dearest dream, and that the true choice, in their minds is wife or career and nothing in between. This isn’t exactly support, especially for a young woman who uses poetry to keep from drowning. Writing, her one salvation.
In the betrayal of trust between she and Gabe, Katrina open fresh hurts with words like daggers about the private shamefulness of Bianca’s decision when she was fifteen, shedding light on how Bee feels about herself and the ways others judge her. As she says, girls like her are ditchwater girls… they must save themselves, and she tries, from that moment on her brother’s doorstep. It will take mountains of courage to recover.
There isn’t much room for innocence, but will she have a chance for a fresh start, a rebirth of sorts? Could Joshua and his sweet, funny son Jayden be a balm?
Publication Date: October 6, 2020
Blackstone Publishing
𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞. 𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐲.
Jubilee is Bianca Vogelsang’s baby, who she watches over with fierce devotion and tenderness. She is a good, loving mother to her little one, the only problem is that Jubilee is a doll. When she shows up at her brother’s house in Santa Anna, she is a broken twenty-year-old who was meant to be away at University entering her junior year, writing her own poetry collection. Instead, on this dark night, she has returned, barely a sketch of her former self, bleeding, looking more like the walking dead. Worse, as she stands at the doorstep she has a baby bundled in her arm, as he hugs her, Matty feels she is burning up with a fever. Convincing her to let him hold the baby as he leads her into the sanctuary of his house, he realizes immediately the baby isn’t alive nor even human, it’s a doll. Matty isn’t able to make sense of what is happening, in her weakened state she can’t form the words to answer him, and Matty calls for reinforcement- their mother. Once there she knows they must rush Bianca to the hospital where they discover beyond her wrecked body, her mind has lost it’s grasp. Does she really believe her doll is a real baby?
The novel flashes back to the early days of Bianca “Bee” and high school sweetheart Gabe’s relationship. Moving too fast, getting caught up in bigger secrets, she makes a painful decision for the greater good at fifteen to later be betrayed by him when he leaves for college. With Katrina their story becomes a love triangle, with ties Gabe cannot easily sever and Bee always left waiting in the wings. Gabe knows how to “handle” his women when they act out of line and with her resentment and painful memories of the choices she made, Bee is quick to challenge him. But his touch always soothes the wounds. Still, they stick to each other, despite Gabe’s habit of coming and going as he pleases. When she needs him most after a terrible loss, he is with Katrina, who has everything she had to sacrifice. Things spiral out of control until we get to the bottom of the trauma and the reason someone as intelligent, and gifted as Bianca is now clinging to a baby doll.
In present time: Bianca is living with her brother Matty and his partner Handro, enrolled in college classes and attending therapy sessions entrusting Matty with Jubliee’s care. She has met someone in her Mexican Art History class, Joshua Walker. Joshua knows all too well about hardship having grown up in the foster system, even separated from his sister Olivia. When she got tangled up in the criminal justice system he moved the moon and stars to become the main caregiver to his nephew Jayden, who for all intents and purposes is his son. When he invites Bianca, a gorgeous, articulate, intelligent woman (who can carry on a conversation about Frida Kahlo and surrealism) on a date and into he and Jayden’s structured, safe lives he doesn’t yet know about her delusion. He learns soon enough it isn’t a joke nor a test, familiar with troubled youth and patients exhibiting early signs of psychosis, he is on high alert. First and foremost in his mind is Jayden’s safety, but beyond the doll, she seems so normal, certainly doesn’t appear to be harboring dark thoughts. What has he gotten himself into? Why can’t he walk away? What is this going to mean down the road for his little family of two?
Despite his misgivings, he and Bianca fall in love and just like her family at the advice of Bee’s doctor, allows her to work through her pain by way of Jubilee. But will she ever be able to detach from this crack in reality? What is at the heart of it? What exactly happened between she and Gabe? Joshua and Gabe are polar opposites, what violence occurred to make Gabe so repellant? Is he welcoming ruin into the only stable home Jayden has?
I went between 3 and 4 stars rating this novel, because at times I struggled with the flow of past to present, but it is an important storyline simply for the explosive relationship versus the healing one with Josh. The psychological break that is vital to Bianca coping with a bottomless loss is beautifully explored in this story. As is the fear other’s have when someone exhibits mental illness because most romantic interests would run the other way in terror. The abuses, the returning willingly to a cycle of degradation, how a childhood lacking made the things Gabe could give her so irresistible, blinding her to the uglier side. Then the sacrifice she made, far too naïve to understand the repercussions and pain that would follow. Adults get caught in the same web, having an intimate history with someone makes it hard to break free, it’s far more intensified in a teenager who lacks the experience that comes with maturity. Unlike privileged girls, for Bianca poverty is at the heart of her lack of choices, girls like her face consequences those with means never will. In the beginning, how she is defined and treated by others (Gabe’s family in particular) when the word ‘gringa’ is attributed to her, because her father is white and not Mexican like her mother, exposes another cross she has to bear. Laughter from his family when she mentions being a writer, her dearest dream, and that the true choice, in their minds is wife or career and nothing in between. This isn’t exactly support, especially for a young woman who uses poetry to keep from drowning. Writing, her one salvation.
In the betrayal of trust between she and Gabe, Katrina open fresh hurts with words like daggers about the private shamefulness of Bianca’s decision when she was fifteen, shedding light on how Bee feels about herself and the ways others judge her. As she says, girls like her are ditchwater girls… they must save themselves, and she tries, from that moment on her brother’s doorstep. It will take mountains of courage to recover.
There isn’t much room for innocence, but will she have a chance for a fresh start, a rebirth of sorts? Could Joshua and his sweet, funny son Jayden be a balm?
Publication Date: October 6, 2020
Blackstone Publishing
September 21, 2020
This was a beautiful masterpiece. It was one of the most truly wonderful and heart wrenching stories I’ve ever read. Was a punch in the gut and I loved every bit of it. I usually have more to say in my reviews but this one left me rather breathless.
November 22, 2020
4.5 stars
Have you ever seen Lars and the Real Girl? It’s about this guy who believes a life sized doll is actually his girlfriend. It’s been several years since I saw the movie but I remember liking it. It took more of a comedic approach on the topic but this serious truth was clear: The doll served as a coping mechanism for Lars.
Jubilee is similar to Lars’ girlfriend. She is a doll and she is keeping Bianca afloat. Bianca needs her, and no one knows how long that need will exist, but she genuinely believes that Jubilee is her daughter. We, the readers, know that something devastating has happened to Bianca, but we don’t know what that is at first. We simply observe her leading a relatively normal life, with this one exception, and then we get glimpses of the past that brought her here.
Aside from the similar belief about a doll, these two stories have very little in common. Jubilee is a heavy book that includes content that could be extremely triggering for some readers. It is brimming with poignant passages that made my heart ache relentlessly. It is a tragic tale, yet never pessimistic, promising the possibility of something that resembles healing with every turning page. Jennifer Givhan explored the impact of trauma beautifully throughout Bianca’s painful story.
While I never disliked the book, I did find it a little difficult to feel invested in initially. I’m glad I didn’t let that deter me from pushing through, as it was worth every second devoted to it and every tear I shed.
Jubilee is literary fiction with dark, distressing themes. I know it won’t be for every reader, but it’s currently an underrated gem that deserves a bigger audience. I hope it will get all of the attention and love that it deserves.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital review copy.
Have you ever seen Lars and the Real Girl? It’s about this guy who believes a life sized doll is actually his girlfriend. It’s been several years since I saw the movie but I remember liking it. It took more of a comedic approach on the topic but this serious truth was clear: The doll served as a coping mechanism for Lars.
Jubilee is similar to Lars’ girlfriend. She is a doll and she is keeping Bianca afloat. Bianca needs her, and no one knows how long that need will exist, but she genuinely believes that Jubilee is her daughter. We, the readers, know that something devastating has happened to Bianca, but we don’t know what that is at first. We simply observe her leading a relatively normal life, with this one exception, and then we get glimpses of the past that brought her here.
Aside from the similar belief about a doll, these two stories have very little in common. Jubilee is a heavy book that includes content that could be extremely triggering for some readers. It is brimming with poignant passages that made my heart ache relentlessly. It is a tragic tale, yet never pessimistic, promising the possibility of something that resembles healing with every turning page. Jennifer Givhan explored the impact of trauma beautifully throughout Bianca’s painful story.
While I never disliked the book, I did find it a little difficult to feel invested in initially. I’m glad I didn’t let that deter me from pushing through, as it was worth every second devoted to it and every tear I shed.
Jubilee is literary fiction with dark, distressing themes. I know it won’t be for every reader, but it’s currently an underrated gem that deserves a bigger audience. I hope it will get all of the attention and love that it deserves.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital review copy.
October 6, 2020
CW: Infant loss, abuse and sexual assault
I was drawn into this book only 20 pages in as I had to know what happened to Bee. When I finished the book, I really needed to sit with it a bit. This psychological drama was incredibly heartbreaking throughout. It's a story about love, loss, abuse, trauma and mental health. You know how you can read a book and it just stays with you... well this is that type of book.
It was so interesting how the author developed the story and went back and forth between "Before Jubilee" and "With Jubilee" until the complete picture of what happened came into view. Although this book was difficult to read at times (due to the sensitivity of the story) I could not put it down. This emotional and gripping story was so well done! I highly recommend picking up this book!
Thank you to @blackstonepublishing and @netgalley for providing me with an ARC e-copy.
I was drawn into this book only 20 pages in as I had to know what happened to Bee. When I finished the book, I really needed to sit with it a bit. This psychological drama was incredibly heartbreaking throughout. It's a story about love, loss, abuse, trauma and mental health. You know how you can read a book and it just stays with you... well this is that type of book.
It was so interesting how the author developed the story and went back and forth between "Before Jubilee" and "With Jubilee" until the complete picture of what happened came into view. Although this book was difficult to read at times (due to the sensitivity of the story) I could not put it down. This emotional and gripping story was so well done! I highly recommend picking up this book!
Thank you to @blackstonepublishing and @netgalley for providing me with an ARC e-copy.
April 17, 2021
A couple weeks ago I went to Taylor Ranch library for the first time since the pandemic began. I'm still a bit skittish in public these days, so I quickly picked the first books on display that spoke to me. One of those books was Jubilee. I read the book fast, and constantly exclaiming to my husband how much I loved it. I knew immediately, I was going to read every novel she ever writes. I just loved it and I felt an immediate connection with her writing.
November 26, 2022
I recently saw the author post that the audiobook version was on sale on Chirp, so I snagged it because I really liked her newest novel River Woman, River Demon. This one didn't hit the same. I think it just suffers from never-gonna-match-up-to-the-first-book-I-read-by-the-author syndrome. But Bee and her little Jubilee were good company in the car regardless.
So. The story. In it, a bleeding and half conscious Bianca shows up at her brother's house with a baby strapped in the backseat. Only, it's not really a baby. It's a baby doll. And its name is Jubilee. Told in two parts - Before Jubilee and With Jubilee - we learn pretty early on that Bianca has been through something unimaginable but, reader, it will take you a loooong ass while to find out just what that something was. What we do know right up front is that Bee appears to believe that Jubilee is alive, her living breathing daughter.
I sort of expected this to take a dark, creepy turn because... you know... baby dolls can be mighty creepy and River Woman was kinda dark, but ultimately the two books share only one vein in common - shitty relationships / questionable men. I don't mean to spoil anything for you, but I also don't want you to sit on tenterhooks like I did, waiting for shit to get reaaaally weird. There's no strange hocus pocus or demonic goings on here. Just a girl with some shit she needs to work through.
All in all, a pretty decent read that I should tag with some spoilery trigger warnings - abuse, suicide, mental health, abortions/miscarriages.
So. The story. In it, a bleeding and half conscious Bianca shows up at her brother's house with a baby strapped in the backseat. Only, it's not really a baby. It's a baby doll. And its name is Jubilee. Told in two parts - Before Jubilee and With Jubilee - we learn pretty early on that Bianca has been through something unimaginable but, reader, it will take you a loooong ass while to find out just what that something was. What we do know right up front is that Bee appears to believe that Jubilee is alive, her living breathing daughter.
I sort of expected this to take a dark, creepy turn because... you know... baby dolls can be mighty creepy and River Woman was kinda dark, but ultimately the two books share only one vein in common - shitty relationships / questionable men. I don't mean to spoil anything for you, but I also don't want you to sit on tenterhooks like I did, waiting for shit to get reaaaally weird. There's no strange hocus pocus or demonic goings on here. Just a girl with some shit she needs to work through.
All in all, a pretty decent read that I should tag with some spoilery trigger warnings - abuse, suicide, mental health, abortions/miscarriages.
August 18, 2020
I worked my sources to nab an advance reading copy of Jennifer Givhan’s soon-to-be-published novel, Jubilee (Blackstone Publishing). Turns out it was a good move on my part because it is my favorite novel of the year so far, my favorite novel in many a year.
When we first meet Bianca (Bee) she is a young woman “driving home. A woman driving away from home.” Her mother is Mexican, her father was “white,” of German, maybe some Scottish, ancestry. We learn that Bee is gorgeous, intelligent, an old soul with “golden eyes.” She grew up “on the border” in the far Southwest. She’s probably flirted at suicide. At times she’s as “sad as a useless moon.”
As a young girl known for thinking only “with her heart,” and enchanted by the Bronte sisters, the public library had kept her fed. She writes regularly in her journal almost like she’s “praying at an altar.” Her greatest interest though is writing poetry, even as she wonders if she’s the only living poet in the world because the only ones she’s ever read or heard about were dead. She’s never heard of coffeehouses or spoken word. She recalls, “I loved poetry, even if I didn’t know where it lived.” Her dream is that one day she will write something so true that “it could never be real in this world.”
But while girls somewhere are studying literature in prep schools, Bee is planning for life as a mother because that’s what “brown girls” in the valley do. Then comes an extremely traumatic event for Bee, and Jubilee becomes her main coping mechanism. Jubilee is a doll that Bee begins to treat as her own living child, her “daughter.” “My baby.” She’s a very life-like doll, painted to look like a newborn, the kind sometimes endorsed by therapists for use with women dementia patients.
There’s also the issue of time. Bee’s beloved scientist father spoke to her frequently about the “quantum universes,” especially the “many-worlds hypothesis.” The suggestion that if you make one decision in your life that means you made the opposing decision in another universe. There’s also the possibility that the concept of time is pointless to consider because actually it may be that everything is “happening at once.” At various points Bee comments that time is either “a joke” or “a dick” or “a body.”
Jubilee received a coveted starred-review in Publishers Weekly, but when I’m reading a book I do not read reviews until I finish the book and write my own. I’m now going to read that review because I already know Jubilee is my favorite novel of the year so far, my favorite novel in many a year.
When we first meet Bianca (Bee) she is a young woman “driving home. A woman driving away from home.” Her mother is Mexican, her father was “white,” of German, maybe some Scottish, ancestry. We learn that Bee is gorgeous, intelligent, an old soul with “golden eyes.” She grew up “on the border” in the far Southwest. She’s probably flirted at suicide. At times she’s as “sad as a useless moon.”
As a young girl known for thinking only “with her heart,” and enchanted by the Bronte sisters, the public library had kept her fed. She writes regularly in her journal almost like she’s “praying at an altar.” Her greatest interest though is writing poetry, even as she wonders if she’s the only living poet in the world because the only ones she’s ever read or heard about were dead. She’s never heard of coffeehouses or spoken word. She recalls, “I loved poetry, even if I didn’t know where it lived.” Her dream is that one day she will write something so true that “it could never be real in this world.”
But while girls somewhere are studying literature in prep schools, Bee is planning for life as a mother because that’s what “brown girls” in the valley do. Then comes an extremely traumatic event for Bee, and Jubilee becomes her main coping mechanism. Jubilee is a doll that Bee begins to treat as her own living child, her “daughter.” “My baby.” She’s a very life-like doll, painted to look like a newborn, the kind sometimes endorsed by therapists for use with women dementia patients.
There’s also the issue of time. Bee’s beloved scientist father spoke to her frequently about the “quantum universes,” especially the “many-worlds hypothesis.” The suggestion that if you make one decision in your life that means you made the opposing decision in another universe. There’s also the possibility that the concept of time is pointless to consider because actually it may be that everything is “happening at once.” At various points Bee comments that time is either “a joke” or “a dick” or “a body.”
Jubilee received a coveted starred-review in Publishers Weekly, but when I’m reading a book I do not read reviews until I finish the book and write my own. I’m now going to read that review because I already know Jubilee is my favorite novel of the year so far, my favorite novel in many a year.
July 22, 2020
This Beautifully written second novel by Jennifer Givhan defines the strength within love and the lengths that our heart will go thru in order to survive trauma .
Written with a poeta’s heart and her undeniable talent for beautiful words and raw feelings, one cannot help but be swept away by this poignant story of survival and strength .
Told from two perspectives (Bianca and Josh) and two timelines (before Jubilee and with Jubilee) we meet Bianca (Bee) - who appears on her brothers doorstep torn, bloody, and bruised with a baby- no- a doll named Jubilee that she insists is her real baby (And don’t you dare say otherwise)!
And Josh- the boy who wants to save her and love her but isn’t sure how to do both. Is it weird his girlfriend loves this doll-child? Sure, but his love for her sees beyond that - he sees her true heart and wants to love her so fiercely that he accepts what others refuse to.
As he and her family walk on egg shells in an attempt to allow Bee to heal from unspeakable trauma , and Bee struggles to rise from the ashes of her past - we follow along a meticulously written journey of what truth is and how far we will go to heal ourself.
I want to refrain from spoilers because that’s just how I roll- plus I truly doubt I can do the story justice. Suffice to say I love love loved it and it is beautiful to find a book that so beautifully evokes all the love and the anguish, the loss and redemption, the self-hate and self-forgiveness that women must live as we grow and - just as importantly- pays respect to all the broken pieces of life that we stitch together to make us whole.
As always , Jenn honors the ancestors and history of those who came before; their words, stories, and poems become a mantra that lend guidance, clarity, and stability when we can’t articulate the way alone.
Unapologetically real, Jubilee gives us a heroine who creates her own reality to save herself, one that she never apologizes for and never makes excuses for. Instead she lives true to her heart and her soul- her passion and rage and her fierce love all as visceral as her belief in her child, her doll, the savior no one can truly understand but her.
October 14, 2020
Jubilee was quite a surprise for me. One of my Goodreads friends read it, raved about it, and I was convinced. Once again this friend did not steer me wrong. When Bianca arrives at her brother’s house, he and his partner immediately know something is terribly wrong with Bee. Baby Jubilee in tow, Bee is feverish and quite ill. A trip to the hospital helps her heal physically, but Bianca has a long way to go to heal mentally and emotionally. Told in alternating chapters of before and after, we begin to know Bee, and feel for her as we experience her trauma. I loved the mingling of Spanish and English. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader.
October 4, 2020
The poetry and language of this books does more than tell a story, it weaves a journey of healing through alternating timelines and dialogue with ancestors and artists who help us though our most traumatic times. The characters teach us how to be vulnerable, to risk everything by forgiving ourselves and loving others. A unique voice and story of abuse, loss, and a woman’s relationship with her body. An absolute essential read.
July 6, 2020
Poignant and unexpected.
November 21, 2021
Powerful novel about trauma, healing, and the transformative power of love. Set in the California borderlands, and beautifully observed.
October 2, 2025
4.5 Beautifully written! (poetic) at first I was nervous bc it was so wordy and complex. Long drawn out sentences but I liked the Spanish words and phrases mixed into the sentences. I like how it was clearly going back and forth between past and present, some books can make that confusing. I originally chose this book because of the beautiful cover and the name Bianca.That is my daughter's name. The author did complicate things by being so overly detailed, felt like lots of run on sentences.So that's why I can't give it a five and but this book spoke to me on a deep level. If anyone has been in a toxic relationship, especially at a young age or gone through an abortion or just someone haunted by the past. It painted a clear, psychological and sometimes dark aspect of the Hispanic culture. I love that Bianca was chubby, I Loved how strong she became in the end. For a second I was terrified that the ending was going to be tragic but it ended so beautifully. My heart feels complete. 🌵 🌼
January 5, 2021
Are you looking for a book that's going to make you cry? Because that's this book. You think from the synopsis that this is just a mystery book, maybe some kind of thriller, it's very vague on that topic, but really it just was sad and made me hysterically cry and honestly is one of those books that maybe they should have a trigger warning on for the harsh topics discussed in the story. Does that make it a bad book? Absolutely not. It's just intensely emotional and upsetting at times. But the silver lining is that you know the character made it out on the other end, alright, but shaken.
Check out the rest of my review here!
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Check out the rest of my review here!
https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpr...
November 26, 2021
I really did not know anything about this book when I found on Amazon. I am always looking for an unusual read. Well I got it! From the very beginning when Bianca shows up with a baby doll until the very end I was completely captivated.
Jubilee is a reborn doll who is treated as a real baby due to PTSD from maternal trauma. Bianca is her supposed mother who has a terrible relationship with Gabe her high school sweet heart. The relationship is tumultuous with domestic violence. What makes the story even more interesting is that it is loosely based on the author’s life.
The characters are very developed and all have their own issues and the all play a part in Bianca’s life. Don’t want say too much but this book is so original and emotional that I cannot recommend it it enough. I am not an emotional person but this book had me thinking about Bianca’s situation long after I was finished.
Jubilee is a reborn doll who is treated as a real baby due to PTSD from maternal trauma. Bianca is her supposed mother who has a terrible relationship with Gabe her high school sweet heart. The relationship is tumultuous with domestic violence. What makes the story even more interesting is that it is loosely based on the author’s life.
The characters are very developed and all have their own issues and the all play a part in Bianca’s life. Don’t want say too much but this book is so original and emotional that I cannot recommend it it enough. I am not an emotional person but this book had me thinking about Bianca’s situation long after I was finished.
May 27, 2023
This book was fantastic. The characters were complex, the narrative was beautifully laid out, but kept me guessing what was happening. It was tragic and beautiful and I can’t wait to read the next book by this author.
March 29, 2025
4.5 and was never gonna be below a 3 because she had a pet boxer Miss Kanga 🫶🏽.
The FMC I found to be a bit insufferable but I really enjoyed this story and the love her friends and family had for her.
The FMC I found to be a bit insufferable but I really enjoyed this story and the love her friends and family had for her.
November 6, 2020
This has been the worst of the 173 books I’ve read so far this year. Reading it was literally torture.
January 7, 2021
Heartbreaking and connecting at the same time. A look at trauma and how to love someone with it.
What would you do if on a first date the person showed up with a doll who they swore was alive?
What would you do if on a first date the person showed up with a doll who they swore was alive?
September 7, 2021
Captivating and well-written book on a subject that I don't often see, at least in fiction. A story of loss, trauma, motherhood, and complicated, abusive relationships, and recovery. Overall, a recommended read.
Read
March 14, 2022A moving story of love, loss, and the healing power of poetry.
February 24, 2022
This was a great read! I cried towards the end and I will not have any spoilers. I had been putting this book off because I could only get it as an e-book. It was an emotional roller coaster and I loved it. I would recommend this to anyone!
June 17, 2022
They say never judge a book by its cover but the bright colors captured my eye like no other. Author , Jennifer Givhan’s style is reminiscent of Toni Morrison (for any of you who is familiar with Beloved). More than just a coming of age, this beautiful but heartbreaking story is a collage of poetry/poetic imagery, redemption, mental illness, etc. Givhan’s gift of demonstrating what mothering is and who mothers was something that will always stick with me. There were characters you couldn’t help but see Givhan’s efforts to humanize them. Overall, I would recommend! Thankful to my local library for this read.
January 15, 2022
I picked up this book because I loved Givhan's prior novel, even though Jubilee's themes and description did not grab me like her prior novel's had. So it was quite a shock how quickly and deeply the plot and characters drew me in. The novel's language and worldviews are beautiful, complex, insightful, moving. I just finished it and I'm still reeling from its emotional impact. Thank you, Ms. Givhan for another gorgeous book!
July 29, 2021
A friend asked me recently to share with her a book I love. Immediately, I brought out JUBILEE.
This is the 2nd novel so far by this prolific poet, and it is a masterful work of literature. I couldn’t put it down. Like her other work I’ve encountered, Givhan writes gracefully unflinchingly about raw pain in an aching world, as well as the beauty and magic that heals. (And the book design is gorgeous, too!)
JUBILEE (Oct. 2020) is the story of Bianca, a fierce young aspiring writer from the rural Imperial Valley of California. Bianca’s big dreams have dissipated into a slew of unkept promises and a broken heart. The novel opens as she races back to her hometown one night, bruised, beaten, and fresh from giving birth—and there’s something amiss about the baby she’s brought with her: it is a lifelike doll she believes is her real child. What has happened to Bee and her baby and her journey though these dark depths to the other side unfold over the rest of the novel in two timelines that intersect at a powerful climax. The prose is clear and engaging with plenty of poetic sentences, and the novel incorporates the surreal and beloved paintings of Remedios Varo and Frida Khalo, as well as the poetry of Sandra Cisneros.
Ghivan tells Bianca’s story with empathy and empowerment. The wide and endearing cast of characters is rich, vivid, and diverse, including Joshua—a single father trying to finish college while raising his young nephew as a foster son. Against his better judgement, Joshua falls for Bee and goes along with her belief that the doll is real.
Givhan brings the community of people and places surrounding Bee to life with all its complexities. The novel explores hard questions about love, family, and being true to oneself. Perhaps, though, it is most about what it means to save each other and ourselves, especially when what we most need is also the thing that might destroy us.
A MUST READ!
This is the 2nd novel so far by this prolific poet, and it is a masterful work of literature. I couldn’t put it down. Like her other work I’ve encountered, Givhan writes gracefully unflinchingly about raw pain in an aching world, as well as the beauty and magic that heals. (And the book design is gorgeous, too!)
JUBILEE (Oct. 2020) is the story of Bianca, a fierce young aspiring writer from the rural Imperial Valley of California. Bianca’s big dreams have dissipated into a slew of unkept promises and a broken heart. The novel opens as she races back to her hometown one night, bruised, beaten, and fresh from giving birth—and there’s something amiss about the baby she’s brought with her: it is a lifelike doll she believes is her real child. What has happened to Bee and her baby and her journey though these dark depths to the other side unfold over the rest of the novel in two timelines that intersect at a powerful climax. The prose is clear and engaging with plenty of poetic sentences, and the novel incorporates the surreal and beloved paintings of Remedios Varo and Frida Khalo, as well as the poetry of Sandra Cisneros.
Ghivan tells Bianca’s story with empathy and empowerment. The wide and endearing cast of characters is rich, vivid, and diverse, including Joshua—a single father trying to finish college while raising his young nephew as a foster son. Against his better judgement, Joshua falls for Bee and goes along with her belief that the doll is real.
Givhan brings the community of people and places surrounding Bee to life with all its complexities. The novel explores hard questions about love, family, and being true to oneself. Perhaps, though, it is most about what it means to save each other and ourselves, especially when what we most need is also the thing that might destroy us.
A MUST READ!
March 16, 2021
This is going to be one of those books that sticks with me for awhile. The story while interesting in premise and promise dragged in certain parts for me because there was a lot of tell and not show segments, but also because I found myself drawn more to the interactions between certain characters and less so between others. However, even in the segments that didn't draw me in as readily there were moments of beautiful prose. Bianca has a unique and poetic outlook on the world that helps to bolster an almost dreamlike quality to the text. However, I doubt that is what is going to stick with me. What is going to stick with me is a discussion surrounding mental health that could be had with this book. People with mental health aren't any less deserving of love, but it does take a specific person with a whole lot of patience to give them what they need. They need support, space, and time to heal, but then also it's important to remember that you can never 100% know what another person has gone through or is going through. This book is depressing on the surface level, has interesting psychological aspects in the middle, and at its very base is about hope and healing. It's complex and wavers back and forth between being beautiful and being ugly, but ultimately that's life isn't it?
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this novel. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Side note: I bounce a little between 3 and 4 stars on this one so, it is probably a 3.5.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this novel. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Side note: I bounce a little between 3 and 4 stars on this one so, it is probably a 3.5.
October 6, 2020
Jubilee
Written by Jennifer Givhan
Blackstone Publishing
Release Date - TOMORROW (October 6, 2020)
Bianca hasn’t spoken to her brother in far too long. When she shows up at his doorstep, slightly delusional, bleeding, and carrying her child Jubilee. It is merely moments before her brother can see that Jubilee is actually a doll. A doll that Bianca feeds, changes, comforts, protects, loves, and devotes her life to. Although troubled by this, her brother and his fiance believe this delusional state has been triggered by a traumatic event. Together they assist Bianca in the daily care of Jubilee. When Bianca meets Joshua, a single father, the two of them have an instant connection. Initially he is bothered that the people in Bianca’s life enable her to care for Jubilee in a maternal way. Once he is able to understand the gravity of the situation, he is able to be a supportive and loving figure in her life. This story is told from multiple timelines referred to as Before Jubilee and After Jubilee.
I not only highly recommend this book, I will go as far as to say, this book will be one I will be discussing avidly with my fellow book lovers. Jennifer Givhan blew me away with this book. I felt emotionally connected to each and every character. I don’t think I can give this book enough praise. I loved it!!!!!!
Written by Jennifer Givhan
Blackstone Publishing
Release Date - TOMORROW (October 6, 2020)
Bianca hasn’t spoken to her brother in far too long. When she shows up at his doorstep, slightly delusional, bleeding, and carrying her child Jubilee. It is merely moments before her brother can see that Jubilee is actually a doll. A doll that Bianca feeds, changes, comforts, protects, loves, and devotes her life to. Although troubled by this, her brother and his fiance believe this delusional state has been triggered by a traumatic event. Together they assist Bianca in the daily care of Jubilee. When Bianca meets Joshua, a single father, the two of them have an instant connection. Initially he is bothered that the people in Bianca’s life enable her to care for Jubilee in a maternal way. Once he is able to understand the gravity of the situation, he is able to be a supportive and loving figure in her life. This story is told from multiple timelines referred to as Before Jubilee and After Jubilee.
I not only highly recommend this book, I will go as far as to say, this book will be one I will be discussing avidly with my fellow book lovers. Jennifer Givhan blew me away with this book. I felt emotionally connected to each and every character. I don’t think I can give this book enough praise. I loved it!!!!!!
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