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The Darkest Child
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Delores Phillips |
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Soho Press, $26, 388 pp. |
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ISBN: 1569473455 |
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Review by Jacquie Bamberg Moore |
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What's on Mama's Mind...
"I have been conditioned to fear my mother..." This single statement is a total personification of Tangy Mae Quinn's heart wrenching account of what it's like to suffer at the hands of a mother who is mentally ill in Delores Phillip's chilling debut novel, The Darkest Child.
In mid-1950's rural Georgia, long before the terms "child abuse" and "dysfunctional family" were part of everyday vocabulary, Rozelle Quinn lived in a two-room shack with no running water, no electricity, no husband and ten children. Outwardly beautiful, with light skin, long silky hair, and gray eyes, Rozelle was easily able to have her way with and entice favors out of almost every man in her small town-black and white. But a lot of those favors came with heavy conditions attached and many resulted in the children she robbed of innocence and youth by inflicting cruel treatment on them during her many episodes of hallucination and insanity as well as severe punishments for any small violation of one of her many unreasonable rules she set for them. Dealing with self-loathing secrets so dark and evil, it's no wonder Rozelle could jab an ice pick through the hand of one of her small children, break one of their fingers, or worse, murder them without remorse.
In addition to dealing with their problems at home, The Quinn children are also saddled with the confusion and frustration of the societal woes of time. The height of the Civil Rights Movement has the older Quinn boys, Sam and Harvey, convinced that they should do something about their segregated town and its unfair laws and crooked sheriff, especially after a young black man is lynched.
Meanwhile, Tangy Mae, the only one of the children to make it to high school is chosen to be a part of history by being one of the first to integrate the white high school in town. She's willing to go, but Rozelle won't allow it and threatens to pull her out of school all together if she makes an attempt to disobey. Beautiful sixteen-year-old, Tarabell, cleans house for a white family and has inherited more than her mother's beauty, she too possesses a driving hatred that causes her to often intimidate, threaten or fight her siblings in an outward display of her inner turmoil.
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Under the stronghold and watchful eye of Rozelle, the children follow her orders without resistance, for the consequences are severe on the rare occasions when they break the rules. For example, Rozelle often took her older daughters out to a whorehouse in the woods on the west end of town called The Farmhouse. On one particular night when both Tarabelle and Tangy Mae took a stand and refused to turn tricks, Rozelle bathed and dressed nine-year-old Laura Gail, in adult clothing and make-up, clearly sending them a silent threat. She was heading out the door when a teary-eyed Tangy Mae volunteered to go to spare her young sister.
Through the teenage voice of Tangy Mae, Ms. Phillips invites readers into the lives of the Quinn's, a family that is burdened with closeted issues that are common in the black family, such as gene-rational self-hatred, mental illness, child abuse and alcoholism. Aside from telling an intriguingly awesome story, the inclusion of the role of church officials, the poor school system, and abusive white law officers in a small southern town during the Civil Rights Era was an authentic backdrop and added the necessary imagery to make an even richer and more believable tale. With bold memorable characters and enough drama to keep you up all night wondering what can possibly happen next, Delores Phillips's debut novel, The Darkest Child is a definite firm foundation for a long-lasting career as a great storyteller.
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Jacquie Bamberg Moore, author of All I Need and contributor to the erotic novel, Twilight Moods.
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