"Scarlet Carnation" by Laila Ibrahim: An Engaging Novel of Love and Loss

Amazon Customer: This book is so good! The author's characters come to life,like you're right there. You feel the joy and sorrow. I really enjoyed this book!

United States on Sep 18, 2023

Kate: This is the 4th book in this series and an absolute must read.
The struggles of freedom, hatred and love between four generations of two families bound together between a little white girls love for her wet nurse.

United Kingdom on Jun 20, 2023

Delle: Laila Ibrahim is a master at writing historical fiction! Scarlet Carnation presented factual events that were woven into excellent writing. The setting, once again, was the bay area in California during World War I. Jordan, Naomi, and Maggie (the African American family) are still bonded with Lisbeth,(the daughter of plantation owners during the Antebellum era), her daughter and granddaughter.
Race plays an integral part in the novel, as African American soldiers are mistreated, assaulted, and lynched without the due process of the law.
Although the era is the early 1900s, those problems still exist 100-plus years later. Unfair housing practices, unequal pay, and systemic racism still dot today's landscape.
The story's strongest, heart-tugging, plot was the relationship between the main characters. Each character is well-defined. The dialogue was strong. One could literally visualize their conversations. The ending makes me yearn for another book with these characters.

United States on Jun 03, 2023

Rob: Scarlet Carnation is a very interesting story about 2 families - one black and one white - in early 20th century Oakland, CA tied together by 2 half-sisters born on the 2 sides of slavery during the mid-nineteenth century. The author does a really good job developing the characters and expressing the pains and sorrows of the both families. The social problems in this novel still echo strongly 100 years after the time of the novel.

However, I found the dialog to be poorly written; it is the level I expect from a high school student trying to write a story for an English class. The dialog does not come across as real; it feels robotic. It is too bad that the author struggles with writing dialog because the story line is very good.

United States on May 26, 2023

Amazon Customer: I very much enjoyed the journeys of these families taking place in the early 1900's. It lets us know a bit about the times and what was going on regarding race, war and the movement of women. It reminds us of what single motherhood and an imperfect child could be. I very much enjoy stories that mix truth and fiction and this one helped me realize a couple of things I did not know. Thank you Laila Ibrahim.

Canada on Mar 04, 2023

PattyS: I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did from the first chapter. I have read all of the companion books and this continues the wonderful story of this family. But what I really appreciate is the way the author deals with childbirth children etc. and medical things. She obviously has much more knowledge than the average author about things like this. As a lactation consultant and a nurse, this is very important to me. I also love the way she dealt with a Differently abled child. It is so important that we realize in our culture that everybody is gifted. They don’t all have to look the same though. Thank you

United States on Jan 18, 2023

catsholiday: Following the families from 'The Yellow Crocus' and 'Golden Poppies'- the third in the series although I don't think you need to have read the others to enjoy this story.

The two families - one white, one black are friends with a long history which began in slave times.

They now live in San Francisco, and the time is the early 20th century just before WWII .

There is still racial prejudice and blacks are struggling to be accepted in parts of the city and also looking for the right to vote.

Spanish flu is also part of the story which rings bells for us at this time with people wearing masks. TB is also an issue.

The story keeps you wanting to read on and I loved how we have seen their two families grow and change over the years in the three stories.

United Kingdom on Apr 05, 2022

J.R. Daly: History repeats itself, over and over, and over. In her fourth installment in the series which began with Yellow Crocus, Laila Ibrahim reminds us that we often find ourselves stalled or creeping backwards as a society. The time period of Scarlet Carnation immediately piqued my interest as my novel also covers the tumultuous years of 1915-1919. I am well versed from my research in the key events which impacted the lives of Americans. From the Spanish influenza pandemic to the suffrage movement and ratification of the 19th Amendment to involvement in a global war, the main characters, cousins May and Naomi and their women-led families, navigate their lives from a female perspective, influenced by these events. They lean on each other and find strength from their familial ties, despite differences in their racial backgrounds. Ibrahim succeeds in teasing out the impact of those events in a seamless storyline while adding in lesser-known history, such as the turmoil on the Mexican border, residential zoning by race, and the emergence of the eugenics movement. I was a bit surprised to read references to Margaret Sanger in the same chapter as mentions of eugenics since Sanger went on to...

United States on Mar 31, 2022

catman: Easy read . well written . shows family helps us survive and brings us joy. Provides us with insight in what many let slip away.

Canada on Mar 31, 2022

Theresa brow: It was a great read! thanks

Canada on Mar 23, 2022