The Selah Branch by Ted Neill
As a black college student in the rural West Virginia town of Selah Station, Kenia Dezy already feels out of place. But when an unexplained phenomenon starts transporting her back to pre-civil rights 1953, she finds herself woven into a tapestry of racial triumphs and tragedies. She begins to unravel secrets that powerful men would rather keep hidden, even if it means massacring an entire town through an industrial disaster. At the intersection of race, gender, class, and privilege, Kenia must navigate a community and a country wresting with its past, present, and future identities.
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Author’s Bio
Globetrotter and fiction writer Ted Neill has worked on five continents as an educator, health professional, and journalist. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post and he has published a number of novels exploring issues related to science, religion, class, and social justice. His novel, The Selah Branch, attempts to confront issues of racism and the divided political environment of the US today and the 1950s. His debut novel, City on a Hill, examines the fault lines of religious conflict in the Middle East. His 5 book series, Elk Riders, wrestles with issues of ethics, morality, and belief against an epic fantasy backdrop.
My Review
4 Stars
Kenia Dezy is disappointed to find herself send to Selah Station, West Virginia to test out an app designed to help the poor find more nutritional food. The town is mainly poor whites that have lost their mining jobs and Kenia quickly learns that the app is quite useless to those that don’t have a smart phone. But the more she learns about Selah Station, the more she becomes interested in the town. Selah Station was very busy and progressive until an accident happened and everything came to a stop.
As Kenia learns more about the town, she also discovers that she has a special ability to travel back in time. She finds herself back in time during the time period. Could she possible stop whatever is about to happen? Could she change the course of history and help all that reside in Selah Station today?
This is a good story about many current issues in our country today. Selah Station is in bad shape and I’m glad that Kenia takes it upon herself to find out what happened and later to try to change history. She also has some personal things to think of when she learns that her father had the same time traveling abilities and although he was declared dead there was never a body recovered.
The pacing of the story kind of threw off the flow in the beginning but it gets its feet under it for the second half. The part that irritated me was the whole political aspect of the story. We are all entitled to our opinions, I understand this and agree. But I was reading this story for the entertainment value and once I got into the time travel potion I was fine. But I was not interested in the whole political discussion at all.
Overall this is a good story. There were just some parts that I didn’t care for. I’m not saying it is a bad book, I freely recommend checking it out. You may find your new favorite story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.
I would like to thank Author Marketing Experts and the Author for the opportunity to read and share this book.
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