Excerpts from Part One of Fifth Born II:
The Hundredth Turtle by Zelda Lockhart
(Please click
on the months to the left to view excerpts.)
Synopsis:
Fifth Born II: The Hundredth Turtle is set in
both 1980’s rural Mississippi, and New York’s Harlem. The
novel tells the story of adult siblings Odessa Lacey and
Lamont Blackburn. The two are estranged early in childhood by the lies
and myths born of family pain, but become emotionally reliant on each
other for a sense of family.
Following Lamont’s death from
complications associated with the AIDS
virus, Odessa is faced with her own grieving, and with fulfilling
Lamont’s
request for connection with their siblings. The novel’s arc takes the
reader over the complicated waters of family estrangement due to incest
and homophobia. These difficult subjects are traversed melodically and
lyrically, landing the reader in the
redemptive revelation that adult survivors of
abuse and their families have the potential to overcome obstacles set
against them at birth.
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