Golden Poppies (Freedman/Johnson #3)
Published June 1st 2020 by Lake Union Publishing, Kindle Edition 297 pages
From the bestselling author of Yellow Crocus and Mustard Seed comes the empowering novel of two generations of American women connected by the past and fighting for a brighter future.
It’s 1894. Jordan Wallace and Sadie Wagoner appear to have little in common. Jordan, a middle-aged black teacher, lives in segregated Chicago. Two thousand miles away, Sadie, the white wife of an ambitious German businessman, lives in more tolerant Oakland, California. But years ago, their families intertwined on a plantation in Virginia. There, Jordan’s and Sadie’s mothers developed a bond stronger than blood, despite the fact that one was enslaved and the other was the privileged daughter of the plantation’s owner.
With Jordan’s mother on her deathbed, Sadie leaves her disapproving husband to make the arduous train journey with her mother to Chicago. But the reunion between two families is soon fraught with personal and political challenges.
As the harsh realities of racial divides and the injustices of the Gilded Age conspire to hold them back, the women find they need each other more than ever. Their courage, their loyalty, and the ties that bind their families will be tested. Amid the tumult of a quickly changing nation, their destiny depends on what they’re willing to risk for liberation.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
These books are not listed as a series because they can stand alone, but this is the third book about Lisbeth and Mattie. You really should read them all. It's so worth it. The books are excellent and you get to know the history of the characters.
Yellow Crocus - Lisbeth is born into privilege and Mattie is her enslaved wet nurse
Mustard Seed - 1868, continues Lisbeth & Mattie's stories
Golden Poppies - 1894, the story continues with Lisbeth & Mattie's children
Rating: really liked it
A brilliantly written book! When I first requested this from Lake Union I did not notice it was from a series. I followed along just fine but I know this would probably have been a 5 star book had I read the whole series and been wholeheartedly invested in the characters. This book follows two families. One black and one white. They have ties from a Plantation in Virginia but have now moved to Oakland, California. It is an emotional but inspiring story. The two family's bind was powerful and loving.
I will most certainly read, "The Yellow Crocus" and "Mustard Seed" by this author. I would like to kindly thank NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for granting me access to this Advanced Reader Copy.
Rating: really liked it
The ties that bind.
Golden Poppies lays out a patchwork quilt of different interlocking pieces that tell the story of the human experience. While the colors and patterns seem to compete for a dominance hierarchy, truth be told, one patch is no less valuable than the next in the scheme of things. Each patch gets ruffled in the winds of time. Each patch fades out over that same stretch of time exposed to all things that eventually erode the precious threads that hold us in place.
It's April of 1894 in Chicago as Jordan Wallace sits at the bedside of her dying mother, Mattie. A similar quilt covers her tiny figure worn by age and by the harshness of her life. Jordan's daughter, Naomi, is a trained nurse who hovers to the side. Nothing prepares you for "the letting go".
On the west coast in California, Lisbeth Johnson and her daughter, Sadie Wagoner, are boarding a Pullman train that will take them to Chicago and to that room where Mattie lays on her death bed. There's a history here between these two families. Mattie served as a wet nurse and slave on Fair Oaks Plantation where Lisbeth was raised with luxury. But there is a bond here that transcends circumstances, place, and time. Jordan and Naomi will eventually move to Sacramento where their life stories will intertwine once again.
I was not aware that this is the third book in this series. It does read as a standalone. I've already ordered the first two books. Laila Ibrahim takes us deeply into this storyline with America's leaning towards industrialization, urbanization, and creativity through invention. We'll experience the signposts of the quests for civil rights, the pursuit of women's suffrage, the eradication of child labor, the non-acceptance of domestic violence, and the freedoms of acceptance and the fulfillment of life to its fullest by all. Some attained. Some so terribly lacking even now.
Golden Poppies reads as fiction laced with familiar and unfamiliar names throughout this time in history. It makes me think of that quilt, once again, all sewn together in appealing sections on the front. But if you turn it gently to the backside, there's tangled threads and knotted pieces reflecting the setbacks, the struggles, and the successes and failures that occur as one generation either rises upward from the previous generation or sets it on the road to ruination. Only time will tell.
I received a copy of Golden Poppies through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Lake Union Publishers and to Laila Ibrahim for the opportunity.
Rating: really liked it
Mattie’s daughter Jordan, and her granddaughter Naomi continued to monitor Mattie as she slipped closer to death. When she expressed a wish to see Lisbeth once more, Jordan sent a letter with her son Malcolm who was a porter on the Pullman train that crossed coast to coast. When Lisbeth learned of her beloved Mattie’s ill-health, she and her daughter Sadie bought tickets and boarded the Pullman train to Chicago. Four days later they arrived and while Mattie lingered longer than they’d thought, they all stayed by her side until the end.
It was the 1890s and Sadie lived in Oakland, California with her husband Heinrich. Jordan and her two children also headed for Oakland once Mattie had passed on, a dream they’d been going to follow while Mattie was alive. The trip on the Pullman train had been delayed because of strikes, but eventually they all arrived, with Sadie returning with more than she’d taken...
Mattie and Lisbeth had a long history, now Jordan and Sadie had the same ties that bound them together. With trouble on the horizon for the families, along with the racial divide and political agendas, Sadie and Lisbeth would need Jordan and her family more than ever before.
Golden Poppies is the 3rd in the Yellow Crocus series by Laila Ibrahim and once again I loved it. I’d only read #1, Yellow Crocus when I saw
Golden Poppies was due out, so I bought and read #2 Mustard Seed before this one. A huge benefit I think, because without the years passing and the main characters growing from children through to middle and old age in this book, the benefit would not be achieved. The characters are so well defined with great depths – so much so that I feel I know them now. I’m really hoping there’ll be a book #4 as I’d love to continue reading about these people. Poignant and intriguing, I recommend the series highly.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
“Golden Poppies” by Laila Ibrahim is the perfect ending to the 3 part sequel of “Yellow Crocus”. Ibrahim is an incredible author and thanks to her explicit research I have acquired unforgettable knowledge as to the extreme tragic life’s the Negroes had to endure. With reading these 3 amazing books I laughed, cried and experienced joy...thank you Laila Ibrahim.
Rating: really liked it
Such an amazing novel, and series! The Golden Poppies is the third in the Lizabeth and Mattie series. If you have not read Yellow Crocus and Mustard Seed you need to purchase and read them immediately before reading The Golden Poppies. This series has followed and white woman and her family, as well as a black female and her life on the plantation, then as an escaped slave.
The two families have undoubtably always been there for the other, no matter the skin color and no questions asked. Often they are questioned on their trust in the other, as the US is still in turmoil over slavery and women gaining rights and starting to speak up and out for themselves.
Lizabeth had moved out west to California and had not seen Mattie in years, them still being in Chicago. But one day a black negro male knocks on her door summoning her back to the east, with no time to spare. Lizabeth doesn't think twice and heads back as soon as she can, with her daughter Sadie in tow.
Mattie and Lizabeth act as if a day has not passed since they last saw each other, although time is of the essence currently. Meanwhile, Jordan, daughter of Mattie and Sadie tiptoe around the other not quite understanding their mothers devotion towards each other. Each clearly understands the color of the other's skin.
Sadie's husband was not very approving of her going with her mother in the first place, and now it has been longer than just a week or so and as they attempt to return some of the railroad goes on strike, and trains are not moving in or out. This delays them even further, however this delay may just turn into a godsend, as Jordan decides to make the leap and head West as well.
There are promises of less racism and worry of the color of skin, but Jordan is still hesitant and not too trusting. She will believe it when she sees it, as her past and her mother's past has proven you cannot trust anyone. California does seem different, but the true colors of some still show through.
Once again, both families need the other at some point to help and protect the other and soon Jordan and Sadie learn and come to understand their mothers friendship and devotion to the other. It is heartfelt and it really does not matter what color their skin is in Lizabeth's eyes, as the families are more connected than they know.
Thank you so graciously to the author, Laila Ibrahim for putting these stories to paper so I can journey them as well. I just love living with Lizabeth, Mattie, Jordan and Sadie during these times. I will cherish the autographed arc. I cannot say Thank You enough and I will eagerly be awaiting the next chapter in their lives.
Rating: really liked it
This book was an Amazon First Reads selection. I was drawn in by the beautiful cover and the historical fiction genre. I did not realize it was part of a series of 3. I read the first 2 books before reading this one. For me, this was the weakest book of the 3. I enjoyed the storylines in the first 2 books despite the somewhat amateur writing style. However, the storyline of this book felt much too contrived. I got bored with the parts about suffrage that came across more like a history lesson.
Rating: really liked it
Third in the seriesBut believe we should have stopped with 2. This did not hold my attention as the preceding 2 related books, Yellow Crocus and Mustard Seeds. The Orange Poppies were not significant and although true struggles for characters, I did not care about them as in the 2 previously mentions volumes.
Rating: really liked it
3.5 rounded up to 4⭐️
Rating: really liked it
This is the third book in the series by Laila Ibrahim. I would definitely start with The Yellow Crocus which starts of the story if Lisbeth the plantation owner's daughter and her wet nurse Mattie a slave on the plantation. The love and relationship that Lisbeth and Mattie have is a bond that is stonger than Lisbeth's love for her own family. After the 1st book the 2nd in the series is the Mustard Seed and then Golden Poppies which both continue on with Lisbeth's own children and Mattie's family and both families hardship's and strength of friendship. Also it make's one feel and question what human's did to slave's. Even though we were not born then, it's really unacceptable that it ever happened. And just a little bit of my personal opinion we shouldn't be tearing down history people need to know what happened so it doesn't happen again. The rich figured a way to make money by having the slave's do the work. It's s rich thing not a race thing.
Rating: really liked it
EXCELLENTSuch an incredible book! I loved the way it was written with truth of a very troubled time. Kudos to you for your talent and making me feel like I was right there with all the characters. Nicely done, a must read!!!?
Rating: really liked it
Once I started I couldn’t put this book down. I’ve truly enjoyed following the lives of Mattie and Lisbeth and all the families. Heartbreak, love, sadness, and hope for a better tomorrow. I can’t wait for the next journey to come.
Rating: really liked it
Her books are so easy to read, thorough enjoyment.
Rating: really liked it
I just... what white lady nonsense did I just read?
This book really acts like a formerly enslaved Black family considers their *former enslavers* to be their best friends?!? We’re supposed to cheer on these stupid white women as they keep going back to a family they *formerly enslaved* and asking for help? I’m supposed to cheer on a clueless white girl who wants to leave her husband, so she asks a Black woman to hide her... basically to put her life on the line for this woman (it’s 1895)? I am left speechless.
It doesn’t help the book itself plays into deeply racist tropes. The “mammy” stereotype is everywhere, and I found it uncomfortable. The author acts as if white women were total innocent in the institution of slavery and downplays their complicity. Even when she tries to be woke and deal with the privilege and disparities, it’s a surface level critique and the Black characters are always there to assure everyone that “this is just the way the world is.”
The white women in this book are infantilized, coddled, stupid and entitled. These women 100% would’ve voted for Trump.
I honestly feel a little dirty for just finishing this travesty... but I (unfortunately) bought it on my kindle and I refuse to not finish things I pay. The fact it was on sale for $1.99 should’ve been a clue.
And honestly, I’m still mad I paid that much for this trash.
Rating: really liked it
This was the third book in a series. The first two focused on Lisbeth, the daughter of a Virginia plantation owner, and Mattie, the slave who became her nursemaid. This book centered around Lisbeth's daughter Sadie and Mattie's daughter Jordon. I have to say that I enjoyed it less than the first two. The theme of women fighting for the vote was less interesting to me and the storyline between Sadie and her husband was frustrating, to say the least. I also didn't care for the ending of the book. It felt rushed and unfinished. If the author does continue with this series, I don't think I'll be reading them. Mattie and Lizbeth were the magic for me in these books.
