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Promise
The people of Salt Point could indeed be fearful about the world beyond themselves; most of them would be born and die without ever having gone more than twenty or thirty miles from houses that were crammed with generations of their families. . . . But something was shifting at the end of summer 1957.
The Kindred sisters--Ezra and Cinthy--have grown up with an abundance of love. Love from their parents, who let them believe that the stories they tell on stars can come true. Love from their neighbors, the Junketts, the only other Black family in town, whose home is filled with spice-rubbed ribs and ground-shaking hugs. And love for their adopted hometown of Salt Point, a beautiful Maine village perched high up on coastal bluffs.
But as the girls hit adolescence, their white neighbors, including Ezra's best friend, Ruby, start to see their maturing bodies and minds in a different way. And as the news from distant parts of the country fills with calls for freedom, equality, and justice for Black Americans, the white villagers of Salt Point begin to view the Kindreds and the Junketts as threats to their way of life. Amid escalating violence, prejudice, and fear, bold Ezra and watchful Cinthy must reach deep inside the wells of love they've built to commit great acts of heroism and grace on the path to survival.
In luminous, richly descriptive writing, Promise celebrates one family's story of resistance. It's a book that will break your heart--and then rebuild it with courage, hope, and love.
The Kindred sisters--Ezra and Cinthy--have grown up with an abundance of love. Love from their parents, who let them believe that the stories they tell on stars can come true. Love from their neighbors, the Junketts, the only other Black family in town, whose home is filled with spice-rubbed ribs and ground-shaking hugs. And love for their adopted hometown of Salt Point, a beautiful Maine village perched high up on coastal bluffs.
But as the girls hit adolescence, their white neighbors, including Ezra's best friend, Ruby, start to see their maturing bodies and minds in a different way. And as the news from distant parts of the country fills with calls for freedom, equality, and justice for Black Americans, the white villagers of Salt Point begin to view the Kindreds and the Junketts as threats to their way of life. Amid escalating violence, prejudice, and fear, bold Ezra and watchful Cinthy must reach deep inside the wells of love they've built to commit great acts of heroism and grace on the path to survival.
In luminous, richly descriptive writing, Promise celebrates one family's story of resistance. It's a book that will break your heart--and then rebuild it with courage, hope, and love.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published July 11, 2023
110 people are currently reading
7427 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Eliza Griffiths
13 books116 followersRachel Eliza Griffiths is a multi-media artist, poet, and novelist.
She received the MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and is the recipient of numerous fellowships including Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Kimbilio, Cave Canem Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Millay Colony, and Yaddo.
Her literary and visual work has been widely published in journals, magazines, anthologies, and periodicals including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New York Times, Best American Poetry 2020, and many others. Griffiths is widely known for her literary portraits, fine art photography, and lyric videos.
She received the MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College and is the recipient of numerous fellowships including Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Kimbilio, Cave Canem Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Millay Colony, and Yaddo.
Her literary and visual work has been widely published in journals, magazines, anthologies, and periodicals including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New York Times, Best American Poetry 2020, and many others. Griffiths is widely known for her literary portraits, fine art photography, and lyric videos.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 175 reviews
September 13, 2023
“What they call you is one thing, what you answer to is something else.”
Dear Griffiths,
Why don’t you come and directly rip my heart from my chest, since that is what you were clearly trying to do here?
Sincerely,
Kezia Duah
In great historical moments, we tend to get lost in the big-picture details and tend to not think much about the individual lives that lived through these moments. Griffiths has done a great job of illustrating this in the story and bringing up topics that can spark interesting conversations. I like that Griffiths still gave us context about what part of history certain moments in the books were so we understand the general atmosphere while still focusing on the lives of the characters.
I love that she really wanted us to get to know each and every character which she does by giving us snippets of their past. I liked this because it made you for a second actually try to understand nature, even the ones you really don’t like…….or hate with your guts. I thought all the characters were phenomenally complex and I loved that.
I hated the ending but in a good way. It’s a reminder that life is not always a happy ending and most black people during this time reflect this.
Dear Griffiths,
Why don’t you come and directly rip my heart from my chest, since that is what you were clearly trying to do here?
Sincerely,
Kezia Duah
In great historical moments, we tend to get lost in the big-picture details and tend to not think much about the individual lives that lived through these moments. Griffiths has done a great job of illustrating this in the story and bringing up topics that can spark interesting conversations. I like that Griffiths still gave us context about what part of history certain moments in the books were so we understand the general atmosphere while still focusing on the lives of the characters.
I love that she really wanted us to get to know each and every character which she does by giving us snippets of their past. I liked this because it made you for a second actually try to understand nature, even the ones you really don’t like…….or hate with your guts. I thought all the characters were phenomenally complex and I loved that.
I hated the ending but in a good way. It’s a reminder that life is not always a happy ending and most black people during this time reflect this.
March 30, 2023
Took a 2 hour break five pages from the end because I knew it was going to be brutal. Ohhh my lord :( :( :( this is so stunning and so sad. I was honestly dreading reading my proof of this because the blurb and the UK cover make it sound like a magical realism coming-of-age book about womanhood and femininity which I am never usually drawn to. This is a book about the devastation of racism, the way it destroys everything and everyone; it's about home and family and the way these places - physical or emotional - are tethers to the world and to life; it's about growing into a world which is dead set on hating you. For a debut, managing to illustrate these themes so richly is so impressive to me and I was so wrong about this book. Incredible. Crying a little
April 3, 2023
A heartbreaking and beautiful debut that doesn’t hold any punches. What begins as a tender tale of young friendship between sisters and neighbors takes a winding road of truth and clear-eyed analysis of race relations in America. Though set in 1957 Maine, there is little here that couldn’t also be set in Any Town, USA, 2023, unfortunately. One of Rachel Eliza Griffiths’ strengths with this novel is that she cuts through all the bullshit northeastern “niceties” to reveal that the heart of white supremacy is the same whether in a small town in Maine or Mississippi. There is no allowance made or quarter drawn for Black families in majority white communities. The inherent racism that lies in the power structures that built this country in stolen land will forever be a white boys club. While other modern stories have spoken to this issue (“Get Out”, “Lovecraft Country”), “Promise” does it in such a way that is harrowing in its simplicity. Griffiths traces the trauma of being a Black young woman in America with realism and tenderness for her characters that leaves no less of an emotional bruise on her readers. With each lesson felt and each loss suffered my heart ached for Cinthy, but doubly so with the knowledge that these actions and injustices continue to happen today. There was some hope in 1957 that the tide was changing, over 65 years later that same tide-shift has not yet been fulfilled. Let that sink in and then ask oneself: why? We white readers are the Ruby’s of the world and unless we are willing to have some introspection nothing will truly ever change.
July 5, 2023
4.5= This was a powerful read and I don’t think I’ve been this affected by a novel in a while. I had to take a lot of breaks while reading, because of the horrific racism that takes place and still I was emotionally exhausted after finishing this book.
It’s a beautifully written story, but so brutal and honest. There is a lot of violence, racism, and death but on the flip side you have faith, courage, wisdom, love, and strength.
I’d recommend this to those historical fiction readers who can handle the reality of what has truly happened in this country.
It’s a beautifully written story, but so brutal and honest. There is a lot of violence, racism, and death but on the flip side you have faith, courage, wisdom, love, and strength.
I’d recommend this to those historical fiction readers who can handle the reality of what has truly happened in this country.
January 22, 2025
4,5
Nos encontramos antes una historia de una autora que se estrena y menudo estreno. Escrita de una forma magnifica, brutal y muy honesta, sin callarse nada y haciendo una gran crítica. Una novela donde vas a encontrar mucha violencia, racismo y muerte pero también hay algo de fe, coraje, amor y mucha fuerza.
Es una historia para aquellas personas que les gusta la ficción histórica con un pelin de realismo mágico ( muy poco porque yo no soy nada fan del realismo), una historia para aquellos que pueden soportar o aceptar un pasado ( o incluso presente) de violencia animal, abuso infantil y doméstico, y sobretodo una historia donde veremos el rechazo de los derechos civiles a ciertos ciudadanos a finales de la década de 1950 en Estados Unidos.
Una época donde ser negro no era fácil, nuestras protagonistas Ezra y Cinthy son hermanas, casi a punto de convertirse en mujeres que viven en un pueblecito aislado con su padre, que es maestro de la escuela y su madre una ama de casa. Personas reservadas en cuanto su origen, y son unas niñas que están destinadas al éxito… pero el hecho de ser negras y la política social del momento no les permite el acceso a universidades.
A lo largo del libro van ocurriendo ciertos hechos bastante trágicos, encarcelamientos injustos, violencia, discriminación en la educación, acosos por parte de maestros y compañeros…
Una novela que va avanzando de forma lenta sin muchos giros pero muy intensa, con pasajes muy duros, utilizando ciertos simbolismos, combinando mitos, supersticiones…
Realmente es una historia diferente, que me ha sorprendido mucho y para bien, y que recomiendo sabiendo que quizá no es una historia para todo el mundo.
Nos encontramos antes una historia de una autora que se estrena y menudo estreno. Escrita de una forma magnifica, brutal y muy honesta, sin callarse nada y haciendo una gran crítica. Una novela donde vas a encontrar mucha violencia, racismo y muerte pero también hay algo de fe, coraje, amor y mucha fuerza.
Es una historia para aquellas personas que les gusta la ficción histórica con un pelin de realismo mágico ( muy poco porque yo no soy nada fan del realismo), una historia para aquellos que pueden soportar o aceptar un pasado ( o incluso presente) de violencia animal, abuso infantil y doméstico, y sobretodo una historia donde veremos el rechazo de los derechos civiles a ciertos ciudadanos a finales de la década de 1950 en Estados Unidos.
Una época donde ser negro no era fácil, nuestras protagonistas Ezra y Cinthy son hermanas, casi a punto de convertirse en mujeres que viven en un pueblecito aislado con su padre, que es maestro de la escuela y su madre una ama de casa. Personas reservadas en cuanto su origen, y son unas niñas que están destinadas al éxito… pero el hecho de ser negras y la política social del momento no les permite el acceso a universidades.
A lo largo del libro van ocurriendo ciertos hechos bastante trágicos, encarcelamientos injustos, violencia, discriminación en la educación, acosos por parte de maestros y compañeros…
Una novela que va avanzando de forma lenta sin muchos giros pero muy intensa, con pasajes muy duros, utilizando ciertos simbolismos, combinando mitos, supersticiones…
Realmente es una historia diferente, que me ha sorprendido mucho y para bien, y que recomiendo sabiendo que quizá no es una historia para todo el mundo.
July 13, 2023
Bravo! Well Done!
There is much to praise and unpack - but the challenge is to not spoil the story, so I’ll say: this is a beautifully and tenderly rendered tale for those who love just a tad of magical realism with their historical fiction. It is for those brave and honest enough who can accept the violent past (including animal cruelty and child/domestic abuse). Those who can stomach the ugliness of the era toward certain citizens amid the social challenges of the Civil Rights movement in the late 1950’s America. Living wasn’t easy for Black folk then and dying was even harder.
Ezra and Hyacinth (Cinthy) Kindred are sisters on the cusp of womanhood who live in a rural/isolated Northeastern coastal town with their one-armed father, a teacher at the local school, and their homemaker mother. Their parents are guarded about their origins and upbringing; and as children they stay in children’s places and ask no questions (even though the truth surrounding their lineage is eventually revealed). The girls are sweet and wholesome - raised to stay on “the Path” – to be respectful, studious, observant, collegebound – in other words, destined for success.
As the girls grow into womanhood they attract attention through no fault of their own: Their rapidly maturing bodies attract attention from White men with preconceived stereotypical notions about Black women's (and men’s) sexuality). Their stellar performance at school earns top marks and placement at the head of the (overwhelmingly white) class – elite places that 1957 social politics don’t allow Black girls. It doesn’t take long for the prominent townsfolk and law enforcement to step in to ensure the Kindreds and the only other Black family in town to stay “in their place” (when all they were doing was quietly living their lives and not bothering anyone). What ensues is a series of events with tragic outcomes - many a Black family can probably relate to many aspects of the (generational and common) atrocities: wrongful incarceration, police harassment/violence, unfair banking practices, limited employment/low wages, discrimination in education, theft, loss, or ruination of property and real estate, children harassed at school by teachers and peers alike, etc. Even their childhood friendship with an impoverished, insecure, envious white neighbor (Ruby) changes as she grasps at the leverage her white skin has over the sisters.
Many scenes in the novel harken to the classic poems of Langston Hughes (Mother to Son) and Dr. Margaret T. Burrough’s (What Do I Tell My Children Who Are Black?) in which mothers/parents grapple with preparing her children for a lifetime of inequality, mistreatment, frustrations, and unrelenting setbacks. Ezra and Hyacinth are buoyed by their “village” - adults who love, support, protect, nurture, educate, and bolster their esteem. It is in the music, food, faith (in the old gods and the new), and the inherited fortitude of the ancestors that will sustain them through troubled times. Sadly, they (and many others) are taught from birth how to survive in an unjust world that upon seeing their skin tone will relegate them to a lesser status or a subservient place in society despite character, education, presentation, aptitude, or integrity. While those poems are decades old, Black/African American parents have revised the lessons into “the talk” as a means to ensure survival in the face of systemic racism and discrimination: how to deal with law enforcement, how to respond when harassed by in-store security, how to live through tough situations, etc.
The author's biography indicates a background in poetry – and she delivers! Her talents as a lyricist/poet are evident in the conjuring of note-worthy phrases, description of scenery, and the expression of the characters’ innermost thoughts and feelings. She blends the elements of song/music, the forces of nature, uses the symbolism of color and intensity of hues expertly to enhance the setting, build suspense, and foreshadow upcoming events. She blends African and African American myth, folklore, superstitions, and wisdom into the story with perfection – I could relate to many of the takeaways - easily remembering the same lessons from my parents.
I received an ARC from NetGalley for review, but I will purchase a hardcover for my personal shelves.
Thanks to the publisher, Random House Publishing, and NetGalley for an opportunity to review.
There is much to praise and unpack - but the challenge is to not spoil the story, so I’ll say: this is a beautifully and tenderly rendered tale for those who love just a tad of magical realism with their historical fiction. It is for those brave and honest enough who can accept the violent past (including animal cruelty and child/domestic abuse). Those who can stomach the ugliness of the era toward certain citizens amid the social challenges of the Civil Rights movement in the late 1950’s America. Living wasn’t easy for Black folk then and dying was even harder.
Ezra and Hyacinth (Cinthy) Kindred are sisters on the cusp of womanhood who live in a rural/isolated Northeastern coastal town with their one-armed father, a teacher at the local school, and their homemaker mother. Their parents are guarded about their origins and upbringing; and as children they stay in children’s places and ask no questions (even though the truth surrounding their lineage is eventually revealed). The girls are sweet and wholesome - raised to stay on “the Path” – to be respectful, studious, observant, collegebound – in other words, destined for success.
As the girls grow into womanhood they attract attention through no fault of their own: Their rapidly maturing bodies attract attention from White men with preconceived stereotypical notions about Black women's (and men’s) sexuality). Their stellar performance at school earns top marks and placement at the head of the (overwhelmingly white) class – elite places that 1957 social politics don’t allow Black girls. It doesn’t take long for the prominent townsfolk and law enforcement to step in to ensure the Kindreds and the only other Black family in town to stay “in their place” (when all they were doing was quietly living their lives and not bothering anyone). What ensues is a series of events with tragic outcomes - many a Black family can probably relate to many aspects of the (generational and common) atrocities: wrongful incarceration, police harassment/violence, unfair banking practices, limited employment/low wages, discrimination in education, theft, loss, or ruination of property and real estate, children harassed at school by teachers and peers alike, etc. Even their childhood friendship with an impoverished, insecure, envious white neighbor (Ruby) changes as she grasps at the leverage her white skin has over the sisters.
Many scenes in the novel harken to the classic poems of Langston Hughes (Mother to Son) and Dr. Margaret T. Burrough’s (What Do I Tell My Children Who Are Black?) in which mothers/parents grapple with preparing her children for a lifetime of inequality, mistreatment, frustrations, and unrelenting setbacks. Ezra and Hyacinth are buoyed by their “village” - adults who love, support, protect, nurture, educate, and bolster their esteem. It is in the music, food, faith (in the old gods and the new), and the inherited fortitude of the ancestors that will sustain them through troubled times. Sadly, they (and many others) are taught from birth how to survive in an unjust world that upon seeing their skin tone will relegate them to a lesser status or a subservient place in society despite character, education, presentation, aptitude, or integrity. While those poems are decades old, Black/African American parents have revised the lessons into “the talk” as a means to ensure survival in the face of systemic racism and discrimination: how to deal with law enforcement, how to respond when harassed by in-store security, how to live through tough situations, etc.
The author's biography indicates a background in poetry – and she delivers! Her talents as a lyricist/poet are evident in the conjuring of note-worthy phrases, description of scenery, and the expression of the characters’ innermost thoughts and feelings. She blends the elements of song/music, the forces of nature, uses the symbolism of color and intensity of hues expertly to enhance the setting, build suspense, and foreshadow upcoming events. She blends African and African American myth, folklore, superstitions, and wisdom into the story with perfection – I could relate to many of the takeaways - easily remembering the same lessons from my parents.
I received an ARC from NetGalley for review, but I will purchase a hardcover for my personal shelves.
Thanks to the publisher, Random House Publishing, and NetGalley for an opportunity to review.
July 20, 2023
Promise, the debut novel by established poet Griffiths, has been tipped for a possible Booker longlisting, and I can see why.
It’s a lyrical, heartbreaking coming of age story of resistance and survival set in Maine in 1957 about the Kindred family, one of only two Black families living in their small town.
Jim Crow laws (enforcing racial segregation in the Southern US) were in place at the time, but discrimination was rife throughout the country.
In a small New England town, Sisters Ezra and Cinthy Kindred fight to protect their home, their family and their futures as the Civil Rights Movement sweeps the nation. What the Kindred family has endured for generations still reverberates, and a growing awareness of the fight that awaits them and for which their parents have tried to prepare them, slowly dawns on the girls over the summer of 1957 in their blossoming adolescence.
The book starts off pretty slow, building gradually until the half way mark, when it suddenly reaches boiling point and becomes difficult to put down. The prose is lyrical and hypnotic - that Griffiths is a poet is obvious - and I found myself crying for much of the last quarter of the book.
Griffiths is married to Salman Rushdie, who himself is hotly tipped for Booker success for his latest novel Victory City. Would they be the first husband and wife duo to be longlisted in the same year? I’ll defer to some of my bookstagram Booker experts for the answer to that one!
An excellent read that I would recommend to anyone interested in the time period, subject matter, or who simply loves a brilliant and beautifully told story. 4/5⭐️
*Many thanks to @johnmurrays for the arc via @netgalley. As always, this is an honest review.*
It’s a lyrical, heartbreaking coming of age story of resistance and survival set in Maine in 1957 about the Kindred family, one of only two Black families living in their small town.
Jim Crow laws (enforcing racial segregation in the Southern US) were in place at the time, but discrimination was rife throughout the country.
In a small New England town, Sisters Ezra and Cinthy Kindred fight to protect their home, their family and their futures as the Civil Rights Movement sweeps the nation. What the Kindred family has endured for generations still reverberates, and a growing awareness of the fight that awaits them and for which their parents have tried to prepare them, slowly dawns on the girls over the summer of 1957 in their blossoming adolescence.
The book starts off pretty slow, building gradually until the half way mark, when it suddenly reaches boiling point and becomes difficult to put down. The prose is lyrical and hypnotic - that Griffiths is a poet is obvious - and I found myself crying for much of the last quarter of the book.
Griffiths is married to Salman Rushdie, who himself is hotly tipped for Booker success for his latest novel Victory City. Would they be the first husband and wife duo to be longlisted in the same year? I’ll defer to some of my bookstagram Booker experts for the answer to that one!
An excellent read that I would recommend to anyone interested in the time period, subject matter, or who simply loves a brilliant and beautifully told story. 4/5⭐️
*Many thanks to @johnmurrays for the arc via @netgalley. As always, this is an honest review.*
June 2, 2025
Promesa es la primera novela de la poeta y artista visual Rachel Eliza Griffiths. En esta dura novela ambientada en los años cincuenta seguimos la historia de dos hermanas que son parte de una de las dos familias negras en Salt Point. Un relato duro y frustrante, en el que acompañaremos a Cinthy mientras descubre la realidad del mundo en el que vive.
Cinthy y Ezra están próximas a empezar un nuevo año escolar en Salt Point, donde su padre es el único profesor negro. Ambas viven protegidas en la burbuja de su familia donde son educadas por su padre y viven en un entorno seguro y feliz. Sin embargo, cuando una nueva profesora llegue alterará la delicada dinámica de las hermanas Kindred, lo que pondrá en peligro a las dos familias negras que hay en el pueblo.
Obviamente el libro resultó duro de leer, además de frustrante. La familia Kindred era una familia, dentro de todo, privilegiada porque eran dueños del terreno en el que vivían, el padre trabajaba de lo que estudió, vivían bien y felices. Fue uno de esos libros que demostraron que incluso “haciendo todo bien” las cosas no siempre resultaban como se planeaban porque el odio no responde a la lógica.
Cinthy era la narradora principal del libro, a través de sus ojos de una niña de trece años fuimos conociendo su realidad y la burbuja en la que sus padres la tenían. Mientras, al mismo tiempo, empezaba a descubrir que estaba dejando la inocencia de la infancia y empezando el camino de ser mujer. Era su visión de una niña introvertida y lectora la que teníamos mientras presenciamos toda la crueldad que el mundo fue imponiendo en sus vidas.
El otro hilo relevante del libro era el de Ruby, una chica blanca, pero muy pobre que la ubicaba casi al mismo nivel de las Kindred. Ruby soñaba con ser piloto y estaba decidida a lograr cumplir su sueño a cualquier costo. Sus capítulos seguían siendo inocentes, pues veíamos a una chica que solo deseaba ser querida, tener un círculo de apoyo. Ruby envidiaba a las Kindred más de lo que quería dinero, era una chica que creía saber sobre la vida y ser casi una adulta, pero en realidad seguía estando llena de sueños inocentes.
De forma intercalada a las historias de Ruby y Cinthy, aparecían capítulos llamados con los nombres otros personajes, ya fueran sus padres, sus abuelos u otros personajes secundarios. En estos capítulos, fuimos conociendo las historias de otros adultos y el cómo terminaron de la forma en que terminaron. Relatos que probaron que el contexto de cada uno moldeó sus vidas, pero también su determinación o falta de esta.
A pesar de la dureza del libro, algo que quiero destacar es que estuvo lleno de amor en sus distintas versiones. Los personajes se querían y protegían entre ellos de todo lo que los rodeaba, a veces no era suficiente, pero el único consuelo que teníamos durante su lectura era saber que se querían. Al final, el mundo no les quería hacer un espacio para que vivieran en paz y solo buscaban una excusa para expulsarlos y dañarlos. Solo su resiliencia y el amor mutuo les permitía seguir adelante.
Promesa fue una novela dura de leer sobre una familia que solo buscaba vivir en paz en un pueblo pequeño, pero que las personas no les dejaron espacio para esto. Un relato cruel, lleno de violencia, racismo y machismo, pero también mucho amor, esperanza y el coraje de seguir adelante a pesar de las adversidades.
“Pero la sangre de nuestro interior no responde a esa lógica. Vuestra madre y yo no queremos que os sintáis solas nunca. Nuestros relatos hallan su expresión en nuestro interior. Quizá podáis ayudarme a no olvidar cómo el amor me salvó de mi propio dolor”.
Cinthy y Ezra están próximas a empezar un nuevo año escolar en Salt Point, donde su padre es el único profesor negro. Ambas viven protegidas en la burbuja de su familia donde son educadas por su padre y viven en un entorno seguro y feliz. Sin embargo, cuando una nueva profesora llegue alterará la delicada dinámica de las hermanas Kindred, lo que pondrá en peligro a las dos familias negras que hay en el pueblo.
“Hija mía, esta gente no nos quiere aquí, esa es la cruda realidad. Nunca nos han querido. No nos quieren aquí, pero tampoco tienen ninguna buena excusa para echarnos”.
Obviamente el libro resultó duro de leer, además de frustrante. La familia Kindred era una familia, dentro de todo, privilegiada porque eran dueños del terreno en el que vivían, el padre trabajaba de lo que estudió, vivían bien y felices. Fue uno de esos libros que demostraron que incluso “haciendo todo bien” las cosas no siempre resultaban como se planeaban porque el odio no responde a la lógica.
“Vuestras vidas son mis relatos preferidos. ¿Haréis el favor de recordar esto la próxima vez que decidáis actuar como si fueras adultas? Porque no tenéis edad para meteros con una mujer como esa. Demasiadas mujeres de las nuestras desaparecieron para que vosotras pudierais vivir el siguiente capítulo. Y cuando digo esto no estoy hablando de deudas pendientes ni de sentimientos de culpa, sino de amor”.
Cinthy era la narradora principal del libro, a través de sus ojos de una niña de trece años fuimos conociendo su realidad y la burbuja en la que sus padres la tenían. Mientras, al mismo tiempo, empezaba a descubrir que estaba dejando la inocencia de la infancia y empezando el camino de ser mujer. Era su visión de una niña introvertida y lectora la que teníamos mientras presenciamos toda la crueldad que el mundo fue imponiendo en sus vidas.
“La señorita Irene dice que nuestros antepasados ya pagaron nuestro pasaje. Ya no somos esclavos. Ya no colgamos de una soga. No somos estúpidos ni estamos equivocados”.
El otro hilo relevante del libro era el de Ruby, una chica blanca, pero muy pobre que la ubicaba casi al mismo nivel de las Kindred. Ruby soñaba con ser piloto y estaba decidida a lograr cumplir su sueño a cualquier costo. Sus capítulos seguían siendo inocentes, pues veíamos a una chica que solo deseaba ser querida, tener un círculo de apoyo. Ruby envidiaba a las Kindred más de lo que quería dinero, era una chica que creía saber sobre la vida y ser casi una adulta, pero en realidad seguía estando llena de sueños inocentes.
“La única amenaza para que obtengas lo que quieres en la vida es pensar que sabes algo. El mayor peligro en esta vida es creer que no mereces quererte a ti misma. Pero tienes que quererte a ti misma, por encima de todo, y esto es un saber difícil, da igual cómo creas que estás viviendo”.
De forma intercalada a las historias de Ruby y Cinthy, aparecían capítulos llamados con los nombres otros personajes, ya fueran sus padres, sus abuelos u otros personajes secundarios. En estos capítulos, fuimos conociendo las historias de otros adultos y el cómo terminaron de la forma en que terminaron. Relatos que probaron que el contexto de cada uno moldeó sus vidas, pero también su determinación o falta de esta.
“No te enamores de tu dolor —dijo Ezra, tomándome las manos antes de estrecharme entre sus brazos. Parpadeó para apartar las lágrimas y sonrió como en verano—. Este mundo nos promete dolor, y no podemos hacer nada al respecto, salvo tener el valor de amar nuestra propia vida”.
A pesar de la dureza del libro, algo que quiero destacar es que estuvo lleno de amor en sus distintas versiones. Los personajes se querían y protegían entre ellos de todo lo que los rodeaba, a veces no era suficiente, pero el único consuelo que teníamos durante su lectura era saber que se querían. Al final, el mundo no les quería hacer un espacio para que vivieran en paz y solo buscaban una excusa para expulsarlos y dañarlos. Solo su resiliencia y el amor mutuo les permitía seguir adelante.
“Yo estoy en la sangre de eso, el resplandor de la luz del fuego que mi bisabuelo admiró antes de que los blancos le atravesaran los ojos de un disparo. Yo soy la eternidad que sostuvo contra el pecho mientras cruzaba al otro lado. Yo soy las volutas de humo que salen de la tierra ahí donde las lápidas añil aguardan justicia y un reposo sublime e ininterrumpido. Yo soy solo una de las voces —y hay infinitas mujeres oscuras— que viven en los ríos, las cenizas, las lunas y los océanos. Recuerdo cómo lanzaron mi nombre contra las estrellas hasta que me expandí. Recuerdo lo que era antes que carne: la sangre del amor sin miedo, del amor y su más allá”.
Promesa fue una novela dura de leer sobre una familia que solo buscaba vivir en paz en un pueblo pequeño, pero que las personas no les dejaron espacio para esto. Un relato cruel, lleno de violencia, racismo y machismo, pero también mucho amor, esperanza y el coraje de seguir adelante a pesar de las adversidades.
June 27, 2023
"Promise" by Rachel Eliza Griffiths absolutely gutted me. It is a stunningly beautiful, though horrifically tragic, novel. It reads almost like poetry; the writing is rich, complex, and gorgeous. It is a no-holds-barred and non-whitewashed depiction of the Civil Rights era, and how life for Black Americans could be just as bad in the north as in the south. The characters' actions and words are realistic for the time period, so there is prevalent racism and some use of the "n-word," I fell in love with the main characters, sisters Ezra and Cinthy, and admired their strength and resiliency through much pain and hardship, and their determination to succeed in a world where they were deemed less-than simply because of the color of their skin. "Promise" is a compelling read and truly is literary fiction/historical fiction at its best. Though set in the past, this book is still very much relevant today and readers who like to delve into the past so that they can learn from it and thus create a better future will love this book.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the incredible opportunity and privilege of reading an advanced copy of this tremendous and important book. It is destined to be one of the best of the year.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the incredible opportunity and privilege of reading an advanced copy of this tremendous and important book. It is destined to be one of the best of the year.
Want to read
May 25, 2025A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
June 9, 2023
This emotionally charged coming-of-age story explores love, loss, and resilience. Griffiths delves into the complexities of relationships and family secrets. Promise is a story that paints poignant pictures of generational trauma and its profound impact on our lives—capturing the essence of the struggle to find solace in a world that often feels unpredictable and uncertain, especially during the uproar of civil rights events in the 1950s.
The “friendship” between Ezra, Cinthy, and Ruby, their one white friend, often upset my spirit. They were always doing wild and dangerous things. I thought, "Why are you letting this little girl drag ya'll into this foolishness?" A universal truth in black families is that respectability and image are imperative, especially being one of the few black families in this small New England town in the 1950s.
The story stated, “Mama had asked us not to do so much racing. Ladies take their time, she’d say. Ez and I would look at each other, shrugging… We couldn’t tell our mother that we’d already decided that we would never be ladies. Besides, running pleased us.” Letting you know they weren’t living up to the standard of behavior made me laugh. I remember my childhood as a young black girl, frustrated that I always had to perform respectability instead of being as wild and free as I wanted.
This story is beautifully clever in exploring the eventuality of racial differences. When Ruby discovers that girls are physically identical regardless of race, she calls herself a sister to Ezra and Cinthy. Still, at that moment, when thinking about her dream to be a pilot, the story expertly exposes how Ruby unconsciously separated her current reality of love and unity and the future she desired for herself, which didn’t include her new sisters. “Whenever Ruby tried to praise Harriet or Amelia, Ezra rushed to remind her about Bessie Coleman, who flew through blue skies too. Ruby was used to Ezra doing this when it came to music or sports, but lately, she’d found herself irritated by her friend’s need to place a colored woman’s name inside a space Ruby felt belonged only to her.”
I was amazed that this story prepared Ezra and Cinthy for what could come of their friendship with Ruby and dismissed her declaration of sisterhood. All too often in stories, this reality comes as a surprise, and it always bothers me because we already know how things go regarding these situations. “Miss Irene had warned her when it came to trusting white girls who would come of age and live inside worlds that were both safe and dangerous when they became women. “We’re not going to grow old together. We can’t. I know you want to make yourself believe that we’re chasing the same freedom, the same life. But we’re not,” said Ezra carefully. “We’re not sisters. I have a sister.” This sad reality of a conversation between the girls made this moment feel authentic.
Overall, "Promise" is so thoughtfully written, and I connected to this story personally. However, this story is a slow burn, filled with warm, loving moments and dipped into cumbersome racial moments. I often had to take breaks between chapters to process due to the vivid storytelling. Unfortunately, I had to DNF this story because reading black historical traumas told this intensely triggers me. This isn’t a negative on the author; if anything, it speaks to the richness of her writing skills. However, what I could read, I adored. This story is vibrant and alive. It truly pulls you in and makes you feel the love and pain of the characters. The racial climate being as it was, I would have loved to explore more of the warmth and strength of the family and friends' dynamics, their experiences, and lessons. How they adapted and endured rather than focusing so much on racial traumas. If you are the type of reader that doesn't like to explore racial suffering, then this may not be for you. If that doesn’t bother you, try this; you may love it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC.
The “friendship” between Ezra, Cinthy, and Ruby, their one white friend, often upset my spirit. They were always doing wild and dangerous things. I thought, "Why are you letting this little girl drag ya'll into this foolishness?" A universal truth in black families is that respectability and image are imperative, especially being one of the few black families in this small New England town in the 1950s.
The story stated, “Mama had asked us not to do so much racing. Ladies take their time, she’d say. Ez and I would look at each other, shrugging… We couldn’t tell our mother that we’d already decided that we would never be ladies. Besides, running pleased us.” Letting you know they weren’t living up to the standard of behavior made me laugh. I remember my childhood as a young black girl, frustrated that I always had to perform respectability instead of being as wild and free as I wanted.
This story is beautifully clever in exploring the eventuality of racial differences. When Ruby discovers that girls are physically identical regardless of race, she calls herself a sister to Ezra and Cinthy. Still, at that moment, when thinking about her dream to be a pilot, the story expertly exposes how Ruby unconsciously separated her current reality of love and unity and the future she desired for herself, which didn’t include her new sisters. “Whenever Ruby tried to praise Harriet or Amelia, Ezra rushed to remind her about Bessie Coleman, who flew through blue skies too. Ruby was used to Ezra doing this when it came to music or sports, but lately, she’d found herself irritated by her friend’s need to place a colored woman’s name inside a space Ruby felt belonged only to her.”
I was amazed that this story prepared Ezra and Cinthy for what could come of their friendship with Ruby and dismissed her declaration of sisterhood. All too often in stories, this reality comes as a surprise, and it always bothers me because we already know how things go regarding these situations. “Miss Irene had warned her when it came to trusting white girls who would come of age and live inside worlds that were both safe and dangerous when they became women. “We’re not going to grow old together. We can’t. I know you want to make yourself believe that we’re chasing the same freedom, the same life. But we’re not,” said Ezra carefully. “We’re not sisters. I have a sister.” This sad reality of a conversation between the girls made this moment feel authentic.
Overall, "Promise" is so thoughtfully written, and I connected to this story personally. However, this story is a slow burn, filled with warm, loving moments and dipped into cumbersome racial moments. I often had to take breaks between chapters to process due to the vivid storytelling. Unfortunately, I had to DNF this story because reading black historical traumas told this intensely triggers me. This isn’t a negative on the author; if anything, it speaks to the richness of her writing skills. However, what I could read, I adored. This story is vibrant and alive. It truly pulls you in and makes you feel the love and pain of the characters. The racial climate being as it was, I would have loved to explore more of the warmth and strength of the family and friends' dynamics, their experiences, and lessons. How they adapted and endured rather than focusing so much on racial traumas. If you are the type of reader that doesn't like to explore racial suffering, then this may not be for you. If that doesn’t bother you, try this; you may love it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC.
March 5, 2025
Promesa es la historia de dos familias negras, que viven tranquilamente en un pequeño barrio de Nueva Inglaterra, que de repente se convierten en el centro de atención de la comunidad blanca, a medida que las tensiones raciales se vuelven más publicitadas. Las dos hermanas, que están llegando a la mayoría de edad, de repente sienten la confusión que se está apoderando de sus vidas, a medida que se vuelven más conscientes de cómo las actitudes de la comunidad blanca hacia ellas son potencialmente dañinas.
La primera novela de Rachel Griffith libera las emociones, el amor y la cercanía de dos familias, su miedo por sus hijos que no son conscientes del peligro potencial y su necesidad de protegerlos del feo mundo del racismo, la angustia de la pérdida y el duelo.
Con una escritura bonita , poética y llena de emoción, Rachel ha sabido construir unos grandes personajes en una historia triste, basada en un mundo que fue muy real.
En conclusión, un libro impresionante, poético y hermoso con un lenguaje y escritura elegantes. Promesa es a la vez desgarradora y conmovedora. Un libro que sin duda debe ser leído.
La primera novela de Rachel Griffith libera las emociones, el amor y la cercanía de dos familias, su miedo por sus hijos que no son conscientes del peligro potencial y su necesidad de protegerlos del feo mundo del racismo, la angustia de la pérdida y el duelo.
Con una escritura bonita , poética y llena de emoción, Rachel ha sabido construir unos grandes personajes en una historia triste, basada en un mundo que fue muy real.
En conclusión, un libro impresionante, poético y hermoso con un lenguaje y escritura elegantes. Promesa es a la vez desgarradora y conmovedora. Un libro que sin duda debe ser leído.
Read
December 28, 2023Though it’s a slow-burn, Griffiths paints a rich and stunning portrait of black female youth set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement.
August 4, 2024
Simply put, Griffiths's Promise is beautifully written, her way with words often sumptuous and evocative (especially with regard—but not restricted to—her descriptions of food). The narrative starts out seeming like it will center on one thing , then pivots to be about something else entirely
I appreciated Griffiths's method of weaving ancestry and emotional inheritance into the narrative with added elements of magical realism through the backstories surrounding Ezra and Cinthy's grandparents. It provided context for why and how the Kindreds came to settle in Salt Point and their attempt at a new life.
The novel carries so many themes with dexterity, presenting weighted and distressing topics of racism and racial division within American society with matter-of-fact aplomb. I noted Griffiths's masterful ability with regard to this particularly in her portrayal of Ezra's friendship with Ruby (with Ezra's mother and Miss Irene repeatedly portending its eventual demise) and her vivid renderings of acts of racial violence throughout the narrative. Both are acts of rupture (one figurative, one literal) in their own right that depict the depths of embedded division and depravity inherent to America's personal brand of racism:
"Ezra waved her hands at me to hush. But I could see that what was coming had arrived last spring in Ezra's heart. She'd been carrying it as far as she could, as Mama and Miss Irene had warned her when it came to trusting white girls who would come of age and live inside worlds that were both safe and dangerous when they became women." (25)
.
"Jonah observed those Christian men whistling merrily as they spoke about their livestock, their crops, God, broken truck engines, bitter wives and better-than-nothing mistresses, and what was in the papers—war, war, war—while one or two would go over to the pyre, eyes glittering, and unbutton his pants to piss on what had, too, once been a man. Then, chuckling with pleasure, they turned their talk to going to find barbecue they could actually eat, maybe over at Regina's. She was a Texas nigger who made the best barbecue for miles and miles around. Before they wavered off in search of crisp pork belly, biscuits with gravy, and smoked ribs, they patted Jonah's head and mentioned something to his grandfather about poker and whores later." (135)
Ruby, in fact, becomes the precursor and catalyst for a number of the misfortunes the Kindreds encounter later in the novel, ironically becoming the very self-fulfilling prophesy Mrs. Kindred and Miss Irene continue to warn Ezra, Cinthy, and Lindy of. And because she mourns the widening chasm within her friendship with Ezra, Ruby centers herself and her wounded ego instead of proving herself different from what it's predicted shes destined to become:
"Ruby could still recall the moment, two years ago, that Ezra showed her a picture in a magazine of how Mississippi sent that Till boy back to his mama in Chicago. So Ruby knew what Mrs. Kindred and Miss Irene saw from their porch: They saw Carolyn Bryant, crying crocodile tears down in Money, Mississippi. They saw the whistling shadows of tree branches. Sweet Jesus. It made Ruby angry that they wouldn't even give her a chance. It made her angry that she understood why they couldn't." (109)
The fact that Ruby's empathy and compassion for Black plight unfolding around her (to which her purported best friend by extension belongs) is contingent on centering herself and her own desperation to be accepted and embraced by the Kindreds instead of working to earn their trust is telling. It manifests in her spitting at Mrs. Kindred and Miss Irene and hurling a racial epithet at them without hesitation (110), then haughtily declaring she finds no fault in her conduct when later confronted by Ezra (113-4):
"What y'all offended about now?" Ruby asked, sighing. "You talking about that mess with your mama yesterday? I was just feeling mean. Wasn't personal. Ain't like y'all ain't been called niggers before. It must've been my nerves jump roping from this heat. That's all it was...I didn't mean nothing by it, but that Miss Irene don't care for me. She always lets me know it too. I never done nothing to that woman." (113-4)
Ruby's action and reaction only foreshadow her eventually putting her true colors on full display: later feeling emboldened to blithely throw around the same slur (239; as she would surely continue to do) and beginning to dabble in the weaponizing of her whiteness, propagating falsehoods . In the end, Ruby comes full circle and proves herself to be just what was predicted: very much just another Carolyn Bryant, that insidiously destructive and ubiquitous feature of American society.
Though I at no point found myself bored while reading Promise, the ending for me was lackluster and did have a tendency to drag. It wasn't even due to it not being but more so the execution, which was surprising given the fluid nature of the text as a whole. While the rationale behind Ezra not was explained, her not at least reappearing for their mother's made less sense. Also, the fact that Cinthy and Ezra didn't even during their seemed inconsistent with the rest of the narrative. In general, Cinthy's transition and adjustment to did warrant delving into, but I did find the majority of Part Three superfluous.
And as much as I loved Griffiths's use of language, every now and then it was overwrought, becoming a stumbling block in capturing meaning or even basic conveyance of information. For example, if previously stated or implied, it wasn't clear to me until well into the narrative that Mr. Kindred
Promise was a novel about many things, not least of all a loss of innocence, or more aptly, a loss of ignorance. A foundational theme was that of scales perpetually falling from eyes, not just within the microcosms of Salt Point and Ezra and Ruby's friendship, for example, but on a grander scale with national, long-term implications. The strength of Promise on the merits of its writing and messaging is a rarity. I look forward to taking in more of Griffiths's work.
Notable lines and passages:
"The day before our first day of school always signaled the end of the time Ezra and I loved most. Not time like the clocks that ticked and rang their alarms every morning; we knew that time didn't really begin or end. What we meant by time was happiness, a careless joy that sprawled its warm, sun-stained arms through our days and dreams for eight glorious weeks until our teachers arrived back in our lives, and our parents remembered their rules about shoes, bathing, vocabulary quizzes, and home raining." (3)
"Mostly we repeated all the different ways that summer was more honest than the rest of the year." (3)
"Each day, it felt like we were eating from the menu of our dreams—fresh corn, ice cream, sliced tomatoes with coarse salt and pepper, chilled lobster, root beer floats, watermelon, oysters, crab and shrimp salads, fried chicken, homemade lemon or raspberry sorbet, grilled peaches, potato salad, and red ice pops." (4)
"God faced the water. A lone church, St. Mary Star of the Sea, stood high enough to tempt staffs of lightning that flashed during wonderful summer heat storms." (4)
"...there were also fishermen in the village who were missing legs, arms, faith, and eyes." (5)
"Beyond the empty lot, the land curved like a bony finger towards the sea." (6)
"Miss Irene, Mr. Caesar's wife, rolled her eyes at the village women who carried their grandmothers' guns to the bakery; then she spoke to us kids of how white people needed to constantly perceive themselves to be under threat in order to value their lives. Ain't nothing but birds and bears and rocks up there to harm them, she once said, sucking her teeth. They never got to think of what the trees must feel like down home when our bodies be swinging from their branches." (8)
"Sam Cooke's voice coated our walls with honey." (12)
"This evening we'd have pot roast with mashed potatoes and wild carrots, all seasoned with the fresh herbs—thyme, rosemary, sage, and lavender—that Mama grew and dried. We'd have her baked, homemade rolls, which were browned on the top but pillowed inside, with butter. To celebrate Daddy's first day of teaching another year, there'd be a lemon cake with lemon frosting." (12)
"Like us, the haunted house had a will and way of looking at itself that was unbothered by what anybody else might think." (12)
"When she saw us in the village, walking with our heads high the way Mama had taught us, Ruby held her head up like we did, without truly understanding the forces, and there were many, that wanted us headless, lifeless, dreamless." (13)
"In a matter of weeks, gold leaves would scatter through the air, dropping in spirals. That faint scent in the woods would burst open soon, and the odor of warm decay would shift into a fragrance like smoke." (21)
"I aim to fly a plane," said Ruby, stretching her raspy voice until it nearly ripped." (22)
"Like my sister's, her heart was broken so cleanly they were both breathless." (26)
"Ruby was rarely lonely, though she was often alone." (27)
"Her father knew how to hold his breath even when he wasn't in the water. For years, Ruby had watched him dive from the bridge of his memory into the wreckage of his past." (27)
"Ezra Kindred's laughter was like perfume. Ruby had bathed herself in it to the point that she only knew how strong it was when there was distance between them." (36)
"The way she loved Daddy was strong, but there was a haunted house inside Mama whose shadowy intimacy was stronger." (43)
"Today there was no time for her to pretend she wasn't crying as she washed the dishes. Mama tried not to let us see it, but daughters see such things more clearly than anyone." (43)
"The pantry was one of my favorite places in our house. I could pull a kitchen chair inside and close the door. I'd yank the little chain, turning on the friendly lamp while I read alone or just watched the natural light slide down the curtains until the room darkened. Then I could see all the way down to our pond where stars dropped, like distant silver coins, into the water." (44)
"We loved the song of his voice, which was gravel and grave." (45)
"The feeling of happiness and safety was as palpable as a taste." (76)
"I had enjoyed the drive through the trees to get here. It'd been nice to hold my fingers out against the wind and have the sensation that the wind was holding my hand." (77)
"Dusk had rolled its gold mouth into night." (85)
"I had the audacity to think that if I made myself forget then it would be erased. But that isn't how blood lives in us." (87)
"There is a need for independence that can be traced to the bottom of the Atlantic where our ancestors' voices live in bones that have turned into priceless shells." (90)
"When he turns my great-grandmother's face up to kiss her, he can see Callie at every age they have shared a kiss. One of his sharpest, first memories was trying to kiss her and getting punched squarely in his nose before she kissed him back." (93)
"Disbelief sizzled like an egg, cracked, on the pale skillet of Miss Alley's face." (121)
"A beautiful pretty poet some of something someone once told her. She shared these words: 'What they call you is one thing. What you answer to is something else.' " (142)
"Don't cover up your face for us, for anybody. Your lives are my favorite stories." (142)
"Sitting alone in the car with Daddy on the way to school, my disappointment in him expanded in my stomach like yeast." (148)
"Whatever had blown into our village from the sea at the end of summer seemed intent on swallowing everything we once believed had made us who we were." (151)
"...her eyes flickered outward briefly, then returned to the island of her inner self, where her thoughts ripened like untouched fruit, falling alone inside silent groves." (167)
"Her navy dress was nearly black, and her long legs slid like liquid beneath the silk of it." (173)
"The dew of champagne she had no business drinking settled in Ruby's stomach." (190)
"Miss Irene said we'd need to have food near us to keep our strength, even if we looked at it and felt ill. There'd be a moment, she assured us, when a plate of home-cooked food would be exactly what we wanted, would be the thing to unloose the places where tears pooled inside us." (200)
"We weren't used to the forceful voices of women like my grandmother, whose moods could swing from sugar to acid in seconds." (218)
"Black people can't wait another minute for white folks to arm us with a freedom they've never wanted us to have." (247)
"The world could make you believe that it knew who you were before you did." (258)
"In this late hour, long and empty as an outstretched palm, we waited for the return of our families. We listened to the stinginess of time passing in that unforgiving darkness." (262)
"Ezra needed to feel that she had the power to change what her father or mother would have quietly accepted as fate. Ezra was prepared to shoot Fate between its blue eyes." (267)
"Her parents had built a home, a dream in a world that was entirely flammable." (270)
"The first time I saw his name on that rock was bludgeoning. Something in my spirit fell with a thud and wouldn't get up." (276)
"Damascus was vain. The entire valley surrounding Ginny's house bragged of its beauty. The flowers did not tremble but beckoned the air to flush the wind with the sweetness. The green leaves on the trees have delicious shade between hard patches of sunlight. In the mornings, before it grew too hot, the peonies were so lusty they made something tingle inside me when I inhaled them." (279)
"I craved Salt Point: that smell of the sea rubbing the rough air, and the way summer light swelled, leaving whorls of golden light inside long days." (279)
"Where you find a tragedy, you will not find justice." (284)
"Time poured like syrup." (298)
"Turning from her voice, I stared at the low hills that repeated and repeated their green and yellow curves until they touched the deepening horizon." (298)
"...peace don't happen once. It's something you got to do all the time, like breathing." (302)
"...a frustration welled up under my lavender-drenched skin like a bruise." (306)
I appreciated Griffiths's method of weaving ancestry and emotional inheritance into the narrative with added elements of magical realism through the backstories surrounding Ezra and Cinthy's grandparents. It provided context for why and how the Kindreds came to settle in Salt Point and their attempt at a new life.
The novel carries so many themes with dexterity, presenting weighted and distressing topics of racism and racial division within American society with matter-of-fact aplomb. I noted Griffiths's masterful ability with regard to this particularly in her portrayal of Ezra's friendship with Ruby (with Ezra's mother and Miss Irene repeatedly portending its eventual demise) and her vivid renderings of acts of racial violence throughout the narrative. Both are acts of rupture (one figurative, one literal) in their own right that depict the depths of embedded division and depravity inherent to America's personal brand of racism:
"Ezra waved her hands at me to hush. But I could see that what was coming had arrived last spring in Ezra's heart. She'd been carrying it as far as she could, as Mama and Miss Irene had warned her when it came to trusting white girls who would come of age and live inside worlds that were both safe and dangerous when they became women." (25)
.
"Jonah observed those Christian men whistling merrily as they spoke about their livestock, their crops, God, broken truck engines, bitter wives and better-than-nothing mistresses, and what was in the papers—war, war, war—while one or two would go over to the pyre, eyes glittering, and unbutton his pants to piss on what had, too, once been a man. Then, chuckling with pleasure, they turned their talk to going to find barbecue they could actually eat, maybe over at Regina's. She was a Texas nigger who made the best barbecue for miles and miles around. Before they wavered off in search of crisp pork belly, biscuits with gravy, and smoked ribs, they patted Jonah's head and mentioned something to his grandfather about poker and whores later." (135)
Ruby, in fact, becomes the precursor and catalyst for a number of the misfortunes the Kindreds encounter later in the novel, ironically becoming the very self-fulfilling prophesy Mrs. Kindred and Miss Irene continue to warn Ezra, Cinthy, and Lindy of. And because she mourns the widening chasm within her friendship with Ezra, Ruby centers herself and her wounded ego instead of proving herself different from what it's predicted shes destined to become:
"Ruby could still recall the moment, two years ago, that Ezra showed her a picture in a magazine of how Mississippi sent that Till boy back to his mama in Chicago. So Ruby knew what Mrs. Kindred and Miss Irene saw from their porch: They saw Carolyn Bryant, crying crocodile tears down in Money, Mississippi. They saw the whistling shadows of tree branches. Sweet Jesus. It made Ruby angry that they wouldn't even give her a chance. It made her angry that she understood why they couldn't." (109)
The fact that Ruby's empathy and compassion for Black plight unfolding around her (to which her purported best friend by extension belongs) is contingent on centering herself and her own desperation to be accepted and embraced by the Kindreds instead of working to earn their trust is telling. It manifests in her spitting at Mrs. Kindred and Miss Irene and hurling a racial epithet at them without hesitation (110), then haughtily declaring she finds no fault in her conduct when later confronted by Ezra (113-4):
"What y'all offended about now?" Ruby asked, sighing. "You talking about that mess with your mama yesterday? I was just feeling mean. Wasn't personal. Ain't like y'all ain't been called niggers before. It must've been my nerves jump roping from this heat. That's all it was...I didn't mean nothing by it, but that Miss Irene don't care for me. She always lets me know it too. I never done nothing to that woman." (113-4)
Ruby's action and reaction only foreshadow her eventually putting her true colors on full display: later feeling emboldened to blithely throw around the same slur (239; as she would surely continue to do) and beginning to dabble in the weaponizing of her whiteness, propagating falsehoods . In the end, Ruby comes full circle and proves herself to be just what was predicted: very much just another Carolyn Bryant, that insidiously destructive and ubiquitous feature of American society.
Though I at no point found myself bored while reading Promise, the ending for me was lackluster and did have a tendency to drag. It wasn't even due to it not being but more so the execution, which was surprising given the fluid nature of the text as a whole. While the rationale behind Ezra not was explained, her not at least reappearing for their mother's made less sense. Also, the fact that Cinthy and Ezra didn't even during their seemed inconsistent with the rest of the narrative. In general, Cinthy's transition and adjustment to did warrant delving into, but I did find the majority of Part Three superfluous.
And as much as I loved Griffiths's use of language, every now and then it was overwrought, becoming a stumbling block in capturing meaning or even basic conveyance of information. For example, if previously stated or implied, it wasn't clear to me until well into the narrative that Mr. Kindred
Promise was a novel about many things, not least of all a loss of innocence, or more aptly, a loss of ignorance. A foundational theme was that of scales perpetually falling from eyes, not just within the microcosms of Salt Point and Ezra and Ruby's friendship, for example, but on a grander scale with national, long-term implications. The strength of Promise on the merits of its writing and messaging is a rarity. I look forward to taking in more of Griffiths's work.
Notable lines and passages:
"The day before our first day of school always signaled the end of the time Ezra and I loved most. Not time like the clocks that ticked and rang their alarms every morning; we knew that time didn't really begin or end. What we meant by time was happiness, a careless joy that sprawled its warm, sun-stained arms through our days and dreams for eight glorious weeks until our teachers arrived back in our lives, and our parents remembered their rules about shoes, bathing, vocabulary quizzes, and home raining." (3)
"Mostly we repeated all the different ways that summer was more honest than the rest of the year." (3)
"Each day, it felt like we were eating from the menu of our dreams—fresh corn, ice cream, sliced tomatoes with coarse salt and pepper, chilled lobster, root beer floats, watermelon, oysters, crab and shrimp salads, fried chicken, homemade lemon or raspberry sorbet, grilled peaches, potato salad, and red ice pops." (4)
"God faced the water. A lone church, St. Mary Star of the Sea, stood high enough to tempt staffs of lightning that flashed during wonderful summer heat storms." (4)
"...there were also fishermen in the village who were missing legs, arms, faith, and eyes." (5)
"Beyond the empty lot, the land curved like a bony finger towards the sea." (6)
"Miss Irene, Mr. Caesar's wife, rolled her eyes at the village women who carried their grandmothers' guns to the bakery; then she spoke to us kids of how white people needed to constantly perceive themselves to be under threat in order to value their lives. Ain't nothing but birds and bears and rocks up there to harm them, she once said, sucking her teeth. They never got to think of what the trees must feel like down home when our bodies be swinging from their branches." (8)
"Sam Cooke's voice coated our walls with honey." (12)
"This evening we'd have pot roast with mashed potatoes and wild carrots, all seasoned with the fresh herbs—thyme, rosemary, sage, and lavender—that Mama grew and dried. We'd have her baked, homemade rolls, which were browned on the top but pillowed inside, with butter. To celebrate Daddy's first day of teaching another year, there'd be a lemon cake with lemon frosting." (12)
"Like us, the haunted house had a will and way of looking at itself that was unbothered by what anybody else might think." (12)
"When she saw us in the village, walking with our heads high the way Mama had taught us, Ruby held her head up like we did, without truly understanding the forces, and there were many, that wanted us headless, lifeless, dreamless." (13)
"In a matter of weeks, gold leaves would scatter through the air, dropping in spirals. That faint scent in the woods would burst open soon, and the odor of warm decay would shift into a fragrance like smoke." (21)
"I aim to fly a plane," said Ruby, stretching her raspy voice until it nearly ripped." (22)
"Like my sister's, her heart was broken so cleanly they were both breathless." (26)
"Ruby was rarely lonely, though she was often alone." (27)
"Her father knew how to hold his breath even when he wasn't in the water. For years, Ruby had watched him dive from the bridge of his memory into the wreckage of his past." (27)
"Ezra Kindred's laughter was like perfume. Ruby had bathed herself in it to the point that she only knew how strong it was when there was distance between them." (36)
"The way she loved Daddy was strong, but there was a haunted house inside Mama whose shadowy intimacy was stronger." (43)
"Today there was no time for her to pretend she wasn't crying as she washed the dishes. Mama tried not to let us see it, but daughters see such things more clearly than anyone." (43)
"The pantry was one of my favorite places in our house. I could pull a kitchen chair inside and close the door. I'd yank the little chain, turning on the friendly lamp while I read alone or just watched the natural light slide down the curtains until the room darkened. Then I could see all the way down to our pond where stars dropped, like distant silver coins, into the water." (44)
"We loved the song of his voice, which was gravel and grave." (45)
"The feeling of happiness and safety was as palpable as a taste." (76)
"I had enjoyed the drive through the trees to get here. It'd been nice to hold my fingers out against the wind and have the sensation that the wind was holding my hand." (77)
"Dusk had rolled its gold mouth into night." (85)
"I had the audacity to think that if I made myself forget then it would be erased. But that isn't how blood lives in us." (87)
"There is a need for independence that can be traced to the bottom of the Atlantic where our ancestors' voices live in bones that have turned into priceless shells." (90)
"When he turns my great-grandmother's face up to kiss her, he can see Callie at every age they have shared a kiss. One of his sharpest, first memories was trying to kiss her and getting punched squarely in his nose before she kissed him back." (93)
"Disbelief sizzled like an egg, cracked, on the pale skillet of Miss Alley's face." (121)
"A beautiful pretty poet some of something someone once told her. She shared these words: 'What they call you is one thing. What you answer to is something else.' " (142)
"Don't cover up your face for us, for anybody. Your lives are my favorite stories." (142)
"Sitting alone in the car with Daddy on the way to school, my disappointment in him expanded in my stomach like yeast." (148)
"Whatever had blown into our village from the sea at the end of summer seemed intent on swallowing everything we once believed had made us who we were." (151)
"...her eyes flickered outward briefly, then returned to the island of her inner self, where her thoughts ripened like untouched fruit, falling alone inside silent groves." (167)
"Her navy dress was nearly black, and her long legs slid like liquid beneath the silk of it." (173)
"The dew of champagne she had no business drinking settled in Ruby's stomach." (190)
"Miss Irene said we'd need to have food near us to keep our strength, even if we looked at it and felt ill. There'd be a moment, she assured us, when a plate of home-cooked food would be exactly what we wanted, would be the thing to unloose the places where tears pooled inside us." (200)
"We weren't used to the forceful voices of women like my grandmother, whose moods could swing from sugar to acid in seconds." (218)
"Black people can't wait another minute for white folks to arm us with a freedom they've never wanted us to have." (247)
"The world could make you believe that it knew who you were before you did." (258)
"In this late hour, long and empty as an outstretched palm, we waited for the return of our families. We listened to the stinginess of time passing in that unforgiving darkness." (262)
"Ezra needed to feel that she had the power to change what her father or mother would have quietly accepted as fate. Ezra was prepared to shoot Fate between its blue eyes." (267)
"Her parents had built a home, a dream in a world that was entirely flammable." (270)
"The first time I saw his name on that rock was bludgeoning. Something in my spirit fell with a thud and wouldn't get up." (276)
"Damascus was vain. The entire valley surrounding Ginny's house bragged of its beauty. The flowers did not tremble but beckoned the air to flush the wind with the sweetness. The green leaves on the trees have delicious shade between hard patches of sunlight. In the mornings, before it grew too hot, the peonies were so lusty they made something tingle inside me when I inhaled them." (279)
"I craved Salt Point: that smell of the sea rubbing the rough air, and the way summer light swelled, leaving whorls of golden light inside long days." (279)
"Where you find a tragedy, you will not find justice." (284)
"Time poured like syrup." (298)
"Turning from her voice, I stared at the low hills that repeated and repeated their green and yellow curves until they touched the deepening horizon." (298)
"...peace don't happen once. It's something you got to do all the time, like breathing." (302)
"...a frustration welled up under my lavender-drenched skin like a bruise." (306)
July 12, 2023
This was a beautifully written coming of age story about class, race, generational trauma and the bond of family.
The centre of this novel was the Kindred family who each responded to the hardships life threw at them in vastly different ways. I really felt immersed in their story at times and felt the characterisation in this novel was very strong.
There were really powerful, heartbreaking moments describing terrible, violent racism which were hard to read.
I did struggle a little with the way this book concluded. The way the author showed how the whole family's individual stories became a whole in the youngest generation was very poetic. However, I felt that too many threads had been left hanging leaving me wanting more.
The strength though of the Kindred family shines through in this novel showing that despite their devastation and destruction they will rise above it. Speaking for a people this was a powerful message.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.
The centre of this novel was the Kindred family who each responded to the hardships life threw at them in vastly different ways. I really felt immersed in their story at times and felt the characterisation in this novel was very strong.
There were really powerful, heartbreaking moments describing terrible, violent racism which were hard to read.
I did struggle a little with the way this book concluded. The way the author showed how the whole family's individual stories became a whole in the youngest generation was very poetic. However, I felt that too many threads had been left hanging leaving me wanting more.
The strength though of the Kindred family shines through in this novel showing that despite their devastation and destruction they will rise above it. Speaking for a people this was a powerful message.
This honest review is given with thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.
November 4, 2023
Having read many novels with the same pre-civil rights, racist backdrop but set in America’s south, Promise surprised by being set in Maine, showing the attitudes towards “coloured” people was more widespread than we’d like to think.
I enjoyed getting to know the Kindred and Junkett families who, though flawed, and the product of ongoing persecution and hardship, maintained good values guided by honesty, hard work and integrity, all wrapped in love. They stood in stark contrast to the Scaggs family - white folk with zero morals and not a skerrick of love - even stooping so low as to sell their own daughter for gain! The irony of course was that the colour of skin you were born with, dictated who had the power and social standing in the community, regardless of character. “Though (Ruby) was poor she’d still been rich because of her skin”.
Full of tragedy and with by no means a fairytale ending, the novel, while slow-going at times, is one of perseverance in the face of gross unfairness and senseless bigotry. The violence -graphic at times- was probably necessary to properly highlight the injustices being played out in their little community and to arouse anger and indignation in the reader (which it did!).
As an aside, the book’s title is never really explained and as I was reading, I kept waiting for some sort of promise to be made. I assume it’s indicative of the promise of the impending civil rights movement and the freedom on the horizon.
I thought this quote beautifully summed up, both their resilience and their resignation, rolled together in one sentence: “This world promises us harm, and there’s nothing you can do about it, except to have the nerve to love your life.”
I enjoyed getting to know the Kindred and Junkett families who, though flawed, and the product of ongoing persecution and hardship, maintained good values guided by honesty, hard work and integrity, all wrapped in love. They stood in stark contrast to the Scaggs family - white folk with zero morals and not a skerrick of love - even stooping so low as to sell their own daughter for gain! The irony of course was that the colour of skin you were born with, dictated who had the power and social standing in the community, regardless of character. “Though (Ruby) was poor she’d still been rich because of her skin”.
Full of tragedy and with by no means a fairytale ending, the novel, while slow-going at times, is one of perseverance in the face of gross unfairness and senseless bigotry. The violence -graphic at times- was probably necessary to properly highlight the injustices being played out in their little community and to arouse anger and indignation in the reader (which it did!).
As an aside, the book’s title is never really explained and as I was reading, I kept waiting for some sort of promise to be made. I assume it’s indicative of the promise of the impending civil rights movement and the freedom on the horizon.
I thought this quote beautifully summed up, both their resilience and their resignation, rolled together in one sentence: “This world promises us harm, and there’s nothing you can do about it, except to have the nerve to love your life.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 30, 2025
Una historia conmovedora cargada de emociones y sentimientos, a pesar de que en muchos momentos sentí que la trama necesitaba un empuje, lo compensaba la ternura con la que la protagonista describe sus vivencias, en esto se demuestra que la autora derramó muchas emociones en esta obra, me gustó mucho. Ahora bien, me hubiera encantado que a algunos personajes se les diera una conclusión más extensa y elaborada, a pesar de eso, el título está muy bien logrado.
"Promesa", me deja como pensamiento final, que la pobreza de espíritu es mil veces peor que llenar nuestra vida de "riqueza" y privilegios. Nunca olvidar de dónde venimos y quiénes nos han acompañado hasta nuestro presente, más todo aquello que nos hace ser nosotros.
"Promesa", me deja como pensamiento final, que la pobreza de espíritu es mil veces peor que llenar nuestra vida de "riqueza" y privilegios. Nunca olvidar de dónde venimos y quiénes nos han acompañado hasta nuestro presente, más todo aquello que nos hace ser nosotros.
June 28, 2023
The story is heart-rending. Two Black sisters growing up in a small town in 1957 encounter racism and classism as they grow up. The older sister suffers from the cruelty of her former best friend, whose family is lower in class status but is white. Cinthy, the bookish older sister, narrates. Though the family has the support of their close friends, another Black family in town, both sisters witness the racism that both sets of parents experience. As a result, they are forced to grow up too quickly.
Rachel Eliza Griffiths' novel is well written, with a searing story that I highly recommend reading. Am also curious about her photography; she's a visual artist as well.
Rachel Eliza Griffiths' novel is well written, with a searing story that I highly recommend reading. Am also curious about her photography; she's a visual artist as well.
March 19, 2023
Promise by Rachel Eliza Griffiths was a stunning book. It was poetic and beautiful. The language and writing were graceful. Promise was both heartbreaking and heartwarming. This book had so many things I struggle to put into words. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
February 11, 2024
I'm really glad I finally got to read this one! I had attempted to read this so many times in the past, and I realized I had to be in a certain mood to read this one.
It was a little slow to start, but then I couldn't stop reading. A haunting and heartbreaking read for fans of Jaqueline Woodson.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the e-arc!
It was a little slow to start, but then I couldn't stop reading. A haunting and heartbreaking read for fans of Jaqueline Woodson.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the e-arc!
August 13, 2025
3.5 ⭐
Lastimosamente, este libro fue víctima del momento en el que me encuentro, probablemente lo relea dentro de unos años. Hay muchos aspectos de la historia que valoro, pero otros la vuelven sobrecargada, con información y personajes que la hacen más extensa de lo necesario.
Lastimosamente, este libro fue víctima del momento en el que me encuentro, probablemente lo relea dentro de unos años. Hay muchos aspectos de la historia que valoro, pero otros la vuelven sobrecargada, con información y personajes que la hacen más extensa de lo necesario.
August 2, 2023
Brutal. Beautiful. Honest. Tender. Lyrical.
August 31, 2023
Promise is beauty and unthinkable violence.
It is shock and grief and love.
It is a history filled with terror and injustice.
It is all the things it can mean to be called home.
Griffiths debut and writing is transcendent.
It is shock and grief and love.
It is a history filled with terror and injustice.
It is all the things it can mean to be called home.
Griffiths debut and writing is transcendent.
May 25, 2024
I decided to read this book because I was reading Salman Rushdie’s book Knife (a memoir about his recent knife attack by a terrorist) and he gushes about his new wife, Eliza Griffiths, a poet who just released her first novel. I decided to give it a try. So glad I did. Beautiful and heart wrenching. Her poetry comes through in her writing. (It took me a bit to get into it- so if you get stuck in the beginning- keep going! It will be worth it!)
February 18, 2025
Had really high hopes in the beginning, but didn’t really vibe with it after 50%
May 11, 2025
“Non amare il tuo dolore. Questo mondo è deciso a ferirci, e non c’è niente che tu possa fare tranne avere il coraggio di amare la tua vita”
May 22, 2025
It is a good book about fighting the issue of race.
January 14, 2023
This is a bittersweet novel about families that will also break your heart a little. Cinthy and Ezra are teen sisters with a white friend, Ruby whose father abuses her. Initially they are all friends but tensions rise at school when their teacher is found dead and the new teacher is nothing like the kind woman they loved. There is violence, there is death, there is stealing; but there is also resilience, courage, and love that may have you alternately weeping, laughing, and generally being grateful for the life you have with all its pain and beauty!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!
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