Synopsis
Laila desperately wants to become a mother, but each of her previous pregnancies has ended in heartbreak. This time has to be different, so she turns to the Melancons, an old and powerful Harlem family known for their caul, a precious layer of skin that is the secret source of their healing power.
When a deal for Laila to acquire a piece of caul falls through, she is heartbroken, but when the child is stillborn, she is overcome with grief and rage. What she doesn’t know is that a baby will soon be delivered in her family—by her niece, Amara, an ambitious college student—and delivered to the Melancons to raise as one of their own. Hallow is special: she’s born with a caul, and their matriarch, Maman, predicts the girl will restore the family’s prosperity.
Growing up, Hallow feels that something in her life is not right. Did Josephine, the woman she calls mother, really bring her into the world? Why does her cousin Helena get to go to school and roam the streets of New York freely while she’s confined to the family’s decrepit brownstone?
As the Melancons’ thirst to maintain their status grows, Amara, now a successful lawyer running for district attorney, looks for a way to avenge her longstanding grudge against the family. When mother and daughter cross paths, Hallow will be forced to decide where she truly belongs.
Review
Caul Baby is a unique, fascinating and all encompassing read about black motherhood, the strength of women and legacy. Harlem, New York, Laila has been praying for a baby for a longtime, only for every pregnancy to fail. The Melancon women are special, they are born with caul, which protects them and which they sell to help others. When Laila’s purchase of a piece of caul falls through, and she looses another baby, her anger is turned towards the Melancon women, blames them for not helping their own and only helping rich white people. Watching all this is is Amara, Laila’s twenty year old niece, whose rage at her aunt’s situation puts her on course for a career in law. But Amara is secretly pregnant, she gives her daughter Hallow away, but unbeknown to her Hallow is born covered in caul, and is taken in by the Melancon family as the saviour to their crumbling enterprise. Twenty years later Amara is running for District Attorney, intent on bringing the Melacon down in revenge for how they treated Laila, until she meets her daughter, and both she and Hallow have difficult choices to make.
It isn’t often that I have to pick up a dictionary to look up the title of a book, but I had never heard the word caul. A ‘caulbearer’ is a baby that is born with an unbroken amniotic sac, where some of the membrane covers their face. This caul is at the centre of this book, and the lives of three extraordinary women. I couldn’t help but feel for Laila, the only one on her block in Harlem not to be a mother, where people have stopped asking as she has lost so many babies. I could feel her fear and apprehension about her latest pregnancy and her ultimate grief and anger at the loss of another baby. Her slip into mental illness is difficult to read, needing someone to blame and how it effects her family. The two main voices are Amara and Hallow. Amara had to watch Laila’s demise which sets her on a path to the study law, ultimatley taking her towards the top job of District Attorney. Her ambition is why she makes the difficult decision to give up her baby, she wants to help others and isn’t ready to be a mother. I loved Amara, she has worked hard to get where she is, a black woman from Harlem who is top of her career, she is focused and determined in her ambition. Her daughter Hallow shares many of her traits. Hallow is seen as the saviour to the Melancon empire, Josephine who raises her can’t have children of her own and her cousin’s caul was damaged after an accident as a young child. Like the brownstone they inhabit their lives and business are crumbling, the other inhabitants of Harlem hate them for not helping their own people, only the rich white men and women who are slowly taking over Harlem. Hallow knows something isn’t right, she doesn’t look like either of her parents and she doesn’t like being hidden away. Some parts of Hallow’s story is difficult to read, there is a scenes of abuse that are to show Hallow how her caul can protect her, but she still feels the pain. However,I loved watching Hallow grow and question the world around her and her role as the future of the family, maybe not the future the matriarch, Maman foresaw.
Caul Baby really is a book of our time, a story of strong, black women, in their roles as mothers, daughters and and their place in society. Morgan Jerkins captures the atmosphere of this period, where black woman meeting at a pregnancy centre can be seen as a threat, but ironically is the black women of the Melancon family who have the power over the rich white people, they have the power to heal. I loved the folklore aspect of the book, the idea of the caul and it’s healing properties, origionally they were sold to sailors as protection in medieval times. Morgan Jerkins prose is sublime, the story flows with ease around the lives of these wonderful women, and the setting of Harlem. She has really captured the zeitgeist of our times, the difficult choices women have to make, the ever changing roles women play, and how they are viewed by their own community and those outside.
Every now and then a book comes along that you may not have chosen at first, but once read you are happy you read it.This is a truely sublime and unique book, where the words and characters wrap around you, drawing you in, folding you into their lives and stories. I will put my neck on the line and say this will definitely be on my list of the best books of the year. All encompasing in plot and prose this is a truely sensational read.
I would like to thank Harper Collins and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for introducing me to this amazing read, and for the invite to be part of the blog tour.
