New to Liberty

by DeMisty D. Bellinger

New to Liberty introduces readers to a rural community marked by poverty and isolation, as seen through the eyes of two outsiders and one of their own.

In 1966, Sissily travels across Kansas with an older man, the father of one of her schoolfriends. On their way to California to begin a life together, he insists on stopping at his family ranch to see his mother. This family reunion is a painful reminder for Sissily about the truth about her own heritage, but she also sees a woman who, decades later, is still scarred by the great depression.

In 1947, Nella's family relocates to Kansas from Milwaukee, and during the summer before her senior year, begins an interracial relationship with a white man called Lucky. They can only meet in secret, or as Lucky is in a wheelchair sometimes Nella pretends to be his nurse. When three white men stumble upon "Nurse Nella" one catastrophic afternoon, the violence of a racist society forces Nella to face the reality of their situation.

In 1933, at the height of the dust bowl and brutal jackrabbit roundups, surrounded by violence and starvation, Greta finds love with another farm woman. Their clandestine encounters will be unsustainable for obvious reasons but will have consequences for generations. A novel told in three parts, New to Liberty showcases the growth and strength of three unforgettable women as they evolve in a society that refuses to. In lustrous prose, DeMisty Bellinger brings the quiet, but treacherous landscape to life, offering a snapshot of mid-century America and keeping readers guessing until the end as to how these three women are connected.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, LGBT, Queer, Race, Historical, Adult Fiction

196 pages, Hardcover

First published April 5, 2022

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

In New to Liberty, I think DeMisty Bellinger did a great job of showing the misogynoir faced by Black women. However, similar to what Marina wrote in her review, I did not find the writing compelling. I felt like the prose tried to capture big emotions but its clunkiness, especially the dialogue, distracted me and took me out of the narrative. I also felt a little put off by some of the characters’ romantic relationships with white people. Sure, interracial relationships have happened and do happen, though I don’t love glorifying white people, especially white men, simply because they display basic human decency and kindness (this manifested the most in the second of the three stories for me). Basic human decency and kindness should be the bare minimum.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a 3.5 read for me.

Thoughts coming shortly

[Melissa McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel offers slices of the lives of three women, living in different time periods, connected by geography and community in the ways people living in the 20th century Midwest can be linked. I found this book incredibly compelling and, while some of the events of the novel were hard to read, my overall impression after finishing the book was one of hope. I’m continuing to ponder this novel as it is “one of those” that sticks with you after reading. In summary, DeMisty Bellinger gives us an unflinching look at characters who are doing their best to carve out lives no matter what harsh events the world serves them. This is one of the best books I’ve read in some time. Congratulations, DeMisty, on a wonderful debut novel!

[Karla Strand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This engrossing and robust novel in three parts features three women in mid-century rural Kansas who fight for safety, agency, and independence against formidable odds.

Content info: rape, incest, animal cruelty

https://msmagazine.com/2022/04/01/fem...

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

After having read DeMisty Bellinger's books of poetry and several of her short stories, I was delighted to learn that the novel she had written, New to Liberty, was going to be published. I pre-ordered a copy of the book, and eagerly awaited its arrival.

The three chapters are all set in the town of Liberty, Kansas in three different decades. As I read the book, I treated the chapters as three separate stories. it wasn't until I started the third chapter that I realized that these stories were connected across the generations. I'm now in the process of re-reading the book to connect the details I might have missed, making the reading experience much more enriching the second time through.

Bellinger is an excellent writer and a great storyteller. In me, she has a fan for life. I am eagerly anticipating her next work. I enthusiastically recommend this book!

[Mary Dansak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes elegant, sometimes brutal, we follow the stories of three women in three different times. Their lives are linked by grit and survival. This novel is one that will stay with me for a long time. I hated for it to end.

[Marina J. Humphrey ♡ · Rating 1 out of 5]

“He is not that type of man, I rationalized, not really knowing any type of man back then.” — DeMisty Bellinger, New To Liberty

‘New To Liberty’ is a three-part novel that follows three different women in the summers of 1966, 1947 and 1933 as they struggle with forbidden love and the lingering trauma over the midwest.

Unfortunately, I was not the least bit interested in any of the stories and to be respectfully honest, I found this novel unenjoyable. I’m sure DeMisty Bellinger is a great writer, but from this debut novel, I was not pleased with the way it was written. I’m the kind of reader that enjoys character-driven, well-written novels and because I didn’t experience those aspects while reading, I wasn’t connected to this story in any way.

I gave thought to what Ms. Bellinger was trying to achieve in writing this book, and based on the blurb, my thought is that she wanted to give a voice to these women and emphasize how they were able to push through the adversity each of them faced in their quest for love; however, in my opinion and based on the experience I had reading these stories, I felt this could have been executed in a better way. I will say, again based on the blurb, this novel had so much potential and perhaps it just wasn’t for me, but I do look forward to seeing how DeMisty Bellinger evolves as a writer in her next novel.

Thank you so much Unnamed Press for this Advanced Readers’ Copy!

Book Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bellinger’s writing is beautiful and I look forward to reading her future work. Historical fiction can be challenging to capture the feeling of the era. Bellinger set herself a difficult task in presenting 3 different eras. For me, anachronisms, and there are many in this slim novel, disrupt the flow. I found the final story to be the most heartfelt and true.

[Leah Angstman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive an early ARC of this book to provide a blurb, and I absolutely loved it! Highly recommended. Here's my blurb:

“A fascinating look into the rural heart of America and the lasting impacts of the Great Depression on the generations to follow, especially of how the devastation played out on women and people of color in the center of the Kansas Dust Bowl. Threaded throughout this multi-generational tale of women struggling to keep their families and selves intact are the reoccurring themes of how people can’t help but change internally despite society’s refusal to let them, and how these women—connected across the pages like pieces from unfinished puzzles—find and embrace their own private liberties in the face of adversity. New to Liberty is a moving, heartbreaking, and uplifting novel of racial injustice, innocence lost, and the safety of women in one another’s company, as well as a dissection of the stubborn Midwest and all the discrimination and prejudice that roils through that hard land like a dust storm.”

Content warnings: rape, incest

[cassidy · Rating 3 out of 5]

i’m gonna be honest i don’t really know how to feel. on the one hand there was a lot about this book that was interesting, thought provoking, and important. but on the other hand i just didn’t really enjoy it.

a big part about books for me is the characters, and i just didn’t really like any of these characters. i couldn’t really understand them as people, which meant i couldn’t really connect with them, which made me feel kind of removed while reading about their stories. it was just kind of weird.

the plot was also just kind of boring? i mean like objectively it wasn’t boring, but i was bored. the writing was a bit clunky for me in a way that made it hard to follow sometimes, and i just didn’t really get invested in the story in the way i usually do. i just wasn’t THERE with the characters if you know what i mean.

and also the fact that every relationship the story focused on had a weird age gap just threw me off. like i could never root for the characters relationship because it felt so icky. part one featured a 19 year old girl and a grown man who had CHILDREN the same age as her. part two featured a 17 year old girl and a grown man of god knows how old. part three featured a 19 year old girl and a grown woman with a family. it was just too much for me, and i understand that i probably missed the point in all of that, but i just couldn’t get past the age differences. call me crazy but i couldn’t!

the exploration of racism and sexism during that time period was well done, but other than that, reading this just kind of felt like a chore. maybe i missed the point, but i just didn’t love it.

[Dynah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to browse my library's new fiction section and pull books that look like quick reads. This can be pretty hit-or-miss, but New to Liberty was a happy success of that strategy. It consists of three loosely connected stories. After the first, I almost DNFed--some bad writing (mostly, very odd dialogue) and a not-very-interesting story turned me off--but I'm glad I stuck with it. The connections between the stories deepen (and the writing gets better). It touched on a subject I haven't seen much (ever?) in fiction--the nuances of a relationship between a Black young woman and a white disabled man, and how their oppression/identities relate to each other.

The stories go back in time, which is an interesting take and makes me want to reread. I also kind of like how not all the connections are explained. For instance grown-up Greta in #2 drives a truck that we learn in #3 was Margit's, but we don't learn any more about the matter. I can see this kind of thing reading as bad writing if not done well, but here it served to deepen the sense of interconnectedness between the stories.

One quibble I had with the second 2 stories is that there were lots of things that struck me as anachronistic. For instance, would a teenager in 1947 really bug their parents for a car? I get that here she couldn't really ride the bus bc of gross racist passengers, but was "parents getting a 2nd car for their teen" even a thing in 1947?

CW for graphic depictions of sexual assault and other violence; child sexual abuse; child death; violence against animals.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bellinger is one of only a handful of writers I "discovered" on Twitter some years back and I quite enjoyed her poetry collection, Peculiar Heritage. So when I saw she had a debut novel out, I was eager to read it. There's a lot of subtle things going on in this novel that work in quiet ways quite likely to be overlooked. But her characters are not one of them. I was immediately drawn in to the characters in each of the three sections/time periods the book covers. Structurally, the book looks at three different women in three different time periods, each linked in some way (and all linked thematically). Through relationships and desire, each attempt to define and establish themselves in terms of taking control of their identities, but social/historical/familial constraints pose major obstacles. While the connection amongst the three women serves as a gratifying reveal upon completing the reverse chronological narrative, the stark, realist portrayal of mid-century America centered in Kansas is what really shines. Liberty serves as both place and concept. And Bellinger doesn't flinch when tackling its many complexities.

Great interview with Bellinger here (warning: contains spoilers for this book):
https://www.thecommononline.org/new-t...

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the second story which is really the heart of the book. I really didn't make the connection to the first story the the other two stories. By the time I got to the third story I was ready for the book to end. I don't see where the author is from Kansas and left wondering why she doesn't like the state because of the way local characters are depicted. Also not very realistic as Liberal would have been the town in Seward County, but there really wasn't a bus service from the farms into town. One might have been able to hop on a train as there were many railroad communities. The first story was okay, but dark. The second story was very compelling. The third story just didn't keep my curiosity.

How did this book find me? It was on the Facebook page for the Kansas Book Festival. I did not see where Bellinger was going to speak nor did I see a table there for her.

[Theresa Jehlik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short novel is almost a three-act play going backwards in time. Starting in 1966, Sissily is spending the night in Liberty, Kansas with her middle-aged boyfriend to meet his mother. The next act takes place in 1947 when Nella and her parents move to this small farm community from Milwaukee. The third act is in 1933 when Margit and what's left of the community is caught in the Dust Bowl. Written in the spare prose that echoes both the landscape and the lives within that landscape, the reader is faced with the stories of three women who are struggling to survive in an environment that doesn't welcome those who are different. I read this debut novel in two evenings and am still thinking about Sissily, Nella, and Margit.

[Shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned about this book from the National Willa Cather Center, then was delighted to discover in the Acknowledgements that Bellinger wrote this book in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's graduate English program.

This slim trifecta of linked stories centers around the Depression-era jackrabbit roundups in the rural, dusty Kansas prairie, and ends with the book's secondary characters receiving their due in the third and final part.

RIYL Deesha Philyaw, Toni Morrison

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much!! I immediately had to go back to the first part and reread it to find all of the connections I missed the first time through. I really liked how the characters stories were woven together  across generations, subtly at first until it became clear what the significance was. The sense of place around rural Kansas in the various time periods was vividly crafted. What I loved the most was the strength and indomitable spirit that each of the characters had in the face of such heartbreaking situations. It reminded me of so many of the women I have encountered that face unspeakable hardships and just keep going. 

[pili gaudiello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't let the short length of this book trick you into thinking its contents are trivial because it is anything but. New to Liberty, told in three parts, examines three female main characters and their different relationship dynamics. What I thought tied their stories together (although they are interwoven) was the varying power dynamics they experienced in their relationships, whether it be racial, sexual, or the age imbalances.

This would be an amazing book to discuss in a classroom setting. It's packed with wonderful scene setting and symbolism, as well as overall interesting conversations. I would recommend this to anyone looking to pick it up.

[M R · Rating 3 out of 5]

First things first, is Sissily the daughter of Nella and the blond from the incident? This was such an interesting look at a town, as we see it, from the perspective of 3 different women and 3 different times. I really enjoyed the story of Margit and Greta's relationship. I think I wanted a bigger connection between all three of the stories, this felt like a loosely connected collection of short stories. Overall, I really enjoyed the writing and the viewpoint that this author has and look forward to reading more from Demisty D. Bellinger

[John Vanderslice · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional work. The three parts that make up New to Liberty can be read as separate, independent stories or as the continuing arc of a consistent novel. That's hard to pull off. And they are fascinating if difficult stories. Bellinger gets to the root of what the U.S. has suffered through for too long: misunderstandings between races, yes; but more like flat out assault by the majority white population toward other populations it deems as lesser. But at the same time this book is a story about human beings in touchy, even traumatic, human situations. It will grip your heart.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

“New to Liberty” is a captivating collection of love and life. Bellinger takes three stories and three relationships and weaves them into something much grander — a family that spans generations, connected by challenges they all face.

Though only a little under 200 pages, Bellinger masterfully creates characters in the time of the Dust Bowl and crafts their relationships with one another artfully. “New to Liberty” will leave you contemplating love and life long after you finish reading

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intimate and stirring portrait of three women at different times (30s, 40s, 60s) in Kansas. Bellinger paints a vivid picture of sacrifice, devastation, devotion, and love in an unforgiving time and place.

[Christiana McClain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book is a quick but intriguing read. I definitely recommend it for someone looking to get out a reading slump. It’s tackles tough topics like poverty, racial injustice, and sexual assault but still holds space for love and hope.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

DeMisty Bellinger is a terrific writer and this book is a beautiful and intense read.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debut novel set in Kansas-dust bowl. Three loosely connected stories in 1966, 1947 and 1933.
Themes: racism, rape, death, weather, lesbians, incest, violence towards animals, poverty.

[Eva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

[Kathryn Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought-provoking. Well done.

[kayla m. · Rating 3 out of 5]

eh

[Ashley Cobb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lives of three women over the span of 33 years. Told from different decades, different views, different experiences, but all showing the resiliency of women.

[Neha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something niche and different but didn’t get much out of it.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The three sections of this novel come together like puzzle pieces, and I like Bellinger's decision to not put them in chronological order. The time period--1930s-1960s--helps the reader see we are less advanced in our social and economic justice than some of us like to think.