Catfish Alley is a beautifully crafted tale of a community’s heartache, perseverance and heritage.

The story takes place in 2002. Roxanne Reeves is the director of the Pilgrimage Committee and she is enlisted to research the African American’s history of Clarksville, Mississippi. Roxanne’s motives are immediately clear. She wants to impress one of the committee members and persuade her to let Roxanne restore her home. However, Roxanne never expects to get caught up in a mystery that the town has been sitting on for decades. As she explores the African American community, she realizes that what she has been striving for is not as important as the new friends she has gained and her newfound look on life.

In order to get insight to the African American’s in Clarksville, Roxanne starts her research with Grace Clark, an elderly retired schoolteacher who spent most of her life in Clarksville. Grace agrees to show Roxanne around town. Grace slowly starts the flashbacks into the 1920s of the racial tension through her detailed storytelling. Grace’s voice is real, powerful and immediately captures the attention of readers. Lynne Bryant takes her audience on a powerful and emotional journey.

Though Roxanne and Grace are the main characters of the story, the book reveals several important characters who are entwined in the main mystery of what happened to Grace’s brother, Thomas “Zero” Clark. As each character’s layers are peeled back layers to a deep rooted emotional mystery, Roxanne questions her own motives and her outlook on her own life issues. Roxanne starts to look at Grace’s friends as her own.

Initially Roxanne’s own ignorance is frustrating because she comes from a poor background and is trying hard to hide the fact that she is not from the same cloth as her uppity society friends. She keeps her distance from them and lies about her true roots. Roxanne’s transformation is slow but very crucial to highlighting that even in 2002 there is racial tension in the south.

I can honestly see how some people might compare the writing to The Help by Kathrynn Stockett. I too, started off with the same misconceived notion that the book is similar in style. Slowly, I realized that the plot is authentic and the author’s voice is different. She writes fluidly and descriptively, opening the audience's eyes to world in which she is describing.

Lynne Bryant has hit the ground running. Catfish Alley is a poignant novel that will forever stay embedded in the reader’s mind.

Reviewed by: Samantha