Another dip into the sub-genre of African-American romance, as told by Beverly Jenkins, whose books are among the highest-rated on LibraryThing. If anything I enjoyed this slightly more than Jewel. Most of the action takes place in 1897 Philadelphia, with the last section in a free black town in Kansas (the fictional settlement of Henry Adams, where a lot of Jenkins’ other books are apparently set). There is not much to the plot; former bank robber Teresa July and businessman Madison Nance are obviously destined for each other, and some detailed and well-written erotic passages explain how they make up their minds to accept this destiny. Jenkins does throw in a fair bit of political commentary as well – the dispute between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois, corrupt Republican party bosses, feminism (Teresa’s sister-in-law is mayor of Henry Adams), certainly enough to keep me happy and maintain my interest. It’s really not a type of book I would normally read, but I’ll look out for more Jenkins in the charity bookshops.
> Record-breaking sailor ‘insulted’ by train guard
The thing which upsets me about this story is not so much the bigotry of the train guard but that no other passengers got involved.