The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate - Book Review

My review:

   I am a huge fan of Historical fiction and this book did not disappoint.  It is written in two time periods, Louisiana 1875 and Louisiana 1987.  Benny from 1987 as a new teacher trying to motivate her students to care about local history and the local plantation where Hannie was a slave back in 1875.  I could really feel Hannie's pain of losing her family and trying to find them against all the dangers that came with searching.  The actual "Lost Friends" advertisements really brought the story to life.  

  I really enjoyed reading this book.  There was so much pain in the lives of not only the slaves but also from the current owner of the Plantation. As I was reading I kept wondering how much more can Hannie endure in her search for her family. The ending was a pleasant surprise.  

  A definite five stars!  Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers of this book for my advanced copy for my honest review.

Amazon.com description of this book:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a new historical novel: the dramatic story of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post–Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives.

Bestselling author Lisa Wingate brings to life startling stories from actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as newly freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold away.

Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope.

Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, is suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.