Accident of Birth
A Novel
-
-
2.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $4.99
-
- $4.99
Publisher Description
A woman must decide between two lovers and two worlds—Africa and America—in a riveting, courageous journey
“A modern romance with global scope . . . Not since Marita Golden’s Migrations of the Heart has a writer so deftly played the heartstrings that swing between Africa and African Americans.”—Veronica Chambers
Reba Freeman’s current husband, Carl, has given her all the wealth a suburban wife could hope for. But Reba’s life is turned inside out once she learns that her first husband, Joseph Thomas, is being held by the World Court for crimes against humanity.
Joseph, a gifted Liberian student, had dreams of returning to his native land with his wife and educating his people, yet because of mysterious circumstances, Reba didn’t accompany him to Liberia. Now, twenty years later, she must decide if helping her first husband is worth the risk of losing her comfortable world.
Alternating between present-day action and flashbacks, Accident of Birth creates an intricate tapestry of suspense, drama, and romance. Neff boldly exposes the rift between American comforts and the traumas of the world we choose to ignore, creating a moving novel that readers will talk about for a long time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A World Court trial of a Liberian man accused of war crimes forces an African-American woman to come to terms with her troubled past in Neff's uneven third novel (after Wisdom and Blackgammon). Reba Freeman leads a full, busy life as a high-level Washington human rights advocate with a precocious teenage daughter and a loving albeit distant relationship with her well-to-do husband, Carl Thornton. The issue driving a wedge between Freeman and Thornton is the lingering emotional presence of Joseph Thomas, Freeman's first husband, who abruptly left her to return to Africa after a brief courtship and subsequent wedding. Twenty years later Freeman still carries a torch for Thomas, who returns to her life in alarming fashion when she learns that after a brief period as a village schoolteacher, he apparently became a notorious Liberian terrorist who is being tried for murdering more than 30 innocent villagers during his country's civil war. Freeman takes up Joseph's cause when she learns that the accusations may be false, risking her career and marriage to go to Switzerland and help prove his innocence. The contrast between the two story lines is sharp: the current political subplot packs a compelling punch, but Neff dulls the impact with a series of long, ham-fisted flashbacks tracing Freeman's past. A taut climax provides relief, but can't entirely make up for the meandering backstory.
