I have just finished reading the most incredible novel. Georgia Daniels' The Wilful Daughter is lyrically written in a dramatic style that pulled me into the story, and so moving in places that I couldn't read because I couldn't see the page. Few books have had such a powerful effect on me. I felt that I was there, seated in William Brown’s home with his wife Bira, his five daughters and his son William (“Willie” to his youngest sister June), experiencing the power and forcefulness of his personality, his wife’s quiet forcefulness and the utter frustration of his five daughters who want lives of their own but must obey their father’s designs for creating happy lives for them. In William Brown’s house, it is William Brown’s way or the highway, and everyone knows it, including June and her crippled brother Willie.
Set in 1920s Atlanta, The Willful Daughter is the story of a black man’s triumph over poverty through hard work, good planning, will and the determination to create a safe, genteel life for his family by providing well for them and controlling their destiny. In 1920s Atlanta, that was no small feat. No one dares stand in his way or challenge him, and no one does … except for June, his youngest, most beautiful and willful child, who is at least as stubborn, willful and single-minded as her father. At six foot six and massively muscular, he is a force to be reckoned with; described as tiny, June seems an unequal match. Does she best him? You’ll have to read this unforgettable book to find out.
This is a blockbuster of a novel, so good that I see it as a major motion picture and on everyone’s Best Seller list. Available in Kindle. I’ve already put in a request to the publisher to bring out a paperback edition. This will be one of my all-time favorite books.
My rating: *****
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