Scarlet Carnation

A Novel (Yellow Crocus, Book 4)

De: Laila Ibrahim

Narrado por: Bahni Turpin

In an early twentieth-century America roiling with racial injustice, class divides, and WWI, two women fight for their dreams in a galvanizing novel by the bestselling author of Golden Poppies.

1915. May and Naomi are extended family, their grandmothers’ lives inseparably entwined on a Virginia plantation in the volatile time leading up to the Civil War. For both women, the twentieth century promises social transformation and equal opportunity.

May, a young white woman, is on the brink of achieving the independent life she’s dreamed of since childhood. Naomi, a nurse, mother, and leader of the NAACP, has fulfilled her own dearest desire: buying a home for her family. But they both are about to learn that dreams can be destroyed in an instant. May’s future is upended, and she is forced to rely once again on her mother. Meanwhile, the white-majority neighborhood into which Naomi has moved is organizing against her while her sons are away fighting for their country.

In the tumult of a changing nation, these two women—whose grandmothers survived the Civil War—support each other’s quest for liberation and dignity. Both find the strength to confront injustice and the faith to thrive on their chosen paths.

©2022 Laila Ibrahim (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Set in an early twentieth-century America roiling with racial injustice, class divides, and WWI, two women fight for their dreams.… Impressively performed by the truly exceptional and award-winning story telling skills of narrator Bahni Turpin.” —Midwest Book Review

Prayer Love Hope Family

I listened to the entire series twice, I felt every sadness, every triumph, Right now I have a lump in my throat. I’m going to miss them all even after finishing the series again. I’m waiting on another release in the series August 20th. What a strong group of ladies. What a deep sense of Love.

you must listen to every single one of these. .

... starting with yellow crocus. Laila and Bahni are incredible. I saw comments that were less than favorable and I cannot disagree more strongly with every single one of them. each of these books is a treasure and you will not want to miss any word of them or of the compelling and heartwishing narrative performances. and I have it on good authority there's another book in the works so do yourself a favor and start right away! I promise you based on 400 plus books I've listened to that you will not regret it ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍

Wonderful storytelling as always

Laila is one of my favorite storytellers. Bahni is absolute favorite narrator. The story is great as always. Weaving history and fiction effortlessly, methodically and with the utmost sensitivity. I cried more during this book than any of the three before, with the delivery scenes. As a mother of two, listening to the moment happen is just as precious as experiencing it. The only thing I wish is that we got more of the story of Mae and Lenny.

Good addition to the series

I Love how the story is picked up but not awkwardly forced together. The families are intertwined but now in an unrealistic way. A great job has been done highlighting the difference in circumstances but also that they are two completely different families with a little overlap. I would be interested to see how this continues to evolve now that Lisabeth has left us.

Delightful family saga continues, I can imagine myself there

Another fabulous read by one of my favorite authors! curated to be very on point related to the years that the novel covers.

Family

The story of this beautiful family continues. I can’t wait for the next in the series

The reality of the struggle women went through.

I love all of these book in this series. Anxious and sad to read the last book in this series.

Nice edition to the series

This book was just ok for me. Certainly not as eventful as the others in the series. It was just Luke warm. I wanted to just get through it, but certainly not excited about reading it. The storyline was a bit predictable and underwhelming.

Thoroughly Enjoyed

I have loved each book in the series and this was no exception. Well written story of the intertwined next generations of these families. I hope there is another book to come! Excellent!

FAMILY TIES…

I enjoyed this book as I did Book #3, but I found books 3&4 a little too political for me. I had a hard time sticking with the story and getting through the political parts, which seemed to go on and on.

I ADORED the first two books in this series, “Yellow Crocus,” and “Mustard Seeds.” Those two books focused on FAMILY and not much else. I grew to love the characters in those first two books and was looking forward to more of the same in books 3 & 4.

There WAS lots of family relationship stuff in both books and I thoroughly enjoyed those parts; finding out about Mattie’s descendants and what was happening in their lives. I just felt like I had to wade through too much political stuff to get to the family stuff (although I DO understand how the political problems of the time heavily influenced Mattie’s descendants as individuals and as entire units).

I had to laugh a little at Naomi’s health predicament (I won’t give anything away) — especially as she kept lamenting about how OLD she was at the advanced age of 43.😋. Maybe at the beginning of the 1900’s, 43 WAS considered old for a woman.🤷‍♀️

“Thank you, I love you, go in peace…”. After about the 50th repetition of that I was OVER IT.

There were some long pauses between sentences in many parts of the story. It seems to me the editing needs to be tightened up for future listeners.

One aspect I REALLY enjoyed in the book was the mention of many places in Oakland, San Francisco, Alameda County, Marin… As a 40+ year resident of that area, I knew EXACTLY where those areas being mentioned in the book (ironically I moved to Yorktown, VA 26 years ago and know ALL the places mentioned in the first two books)!

I got a particular thrill out of the mention of Mills College for Women in Oakland. I worked there as the Executive Assistant to the Dean of Admissions for several years before relocating to Virginia. It’s a beautiful campus, and the mention of it brought back fond memories of my time there with coworkers.

Overall, I would recommend this book to others, but only if they have read the first three books in this series; otherwise, as a stand alone, I don’t think this book would make much sense. The political history would likely make sense, but the long family ties would not.

If a fifth book in this series were to come out, I would definitely purchase it.

As always, the narrator, Bahni Turpin, did a great job — she remains one of my top five favorite Audible narrators.💕