Taffy

Taffy Bledsoe Freeman doesn’t need her gift of second sight to know her mockery of a marriage to a man twice her age is manifested misery. That’s why she’s chosen to flee to the Windy City in search of liberty. She needs one thing, however, before leaving: to retrieve the child her husband banished to her parents’ custody. That requires a brief trip down home to the small, all-Black southern town of Bledsoe where “ain’t nothing white ’cept milk and teeth,” a press-and-curl costs a quarter, and a telephone is a luxury. She doesn’t plan to stay, but life and intentions are upended when she collides with Roam Ellis, the man she meant to marry.

A Pullman Porter riding the rails coast-to-coast, Roam Ellis long ago left the heartbreak of failed love behind. Now old wounds are ripped open when, for the first time in seven years, he finds himself face-to-face with Taffy Bledsoe Freeman. Anger ignites. But passion rises when pain subsides, thrusting Taffy and Roam into a hurricane of love, lust, family secrets, betrayal, and lies.

Reminiscent of the works of Bernice McFadden, Bertice Berry, and Andrea Smith (The Sisterhood of Blackberry Corner) Taffy is bathed in southern lore and sweeping imagery that will whisk you back in time on a lyrical and powerful journey. It is a story of restoration and redemption that you won’t soon forget.