When Stars Rain Down

Have you ever read a book that left you in tears and completely breathless at the end? Have you read a book that moved you so much that you just had to sit there and let the story soak in long after you’ve finished it? If not, then you need to pick up Angela Jackson-Brown’s book When Stars Rain Down.

This summer has the potential to change everything.

The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt can sense a nameless storm coming. She hopes this foreboding feeling won’t overshadow her upcoming eighteenth birthday or the annual Founder’s Day celebration in just a few weeks. As hard as she works in the home of the widow Miss Peggy, Opal enjoys having something to look forward to.

But when the Ku Klux Klan descends on Opal’s neighborhood of Colored Town, the tight-knit community is shaken in every way. Parsons’s residents—both Black and white—are forced to acknowledge the unspoken codes of conduct in their post-Reconstruction era town. To complicate matters, Opal finds herself torn between two unexpected romantic interests, awakening many new emotions. She never thought that becoming a woman would bring with it such complicated decisions about what type of person she wants to be.

When Stars Rain Down is just a crafty and beautifully written story. In Opal and Granny I found myself immediately attached to these peaceful and loving ladies who do everything that they can to exist in a town where race relations are tense and hostile. Opal really is one of those characters that makes her way into your heart from the very beginning.

Jackson-Brown does a fantastic job developing her cast of character's whom seem so real that they could walk right out of the story. These were character that I wanted to embrace as they did their best to live by a code of honor and their only crime (which I hate to use that word) is the color of their skin. The rawness of the hatred, bigotry, and racism Opal, her family and other characters endure was heart-wrenching and infuriating to say the least.

This is a powerful story that needs to be told and more than just historical fiction lovers need to pick up this absolute must read book as the story even resonates with today. You too will find yourself immediately invested in each character and their story. Jackson-Brown has created a work of art that is masterfully told through Opal's eyes that deserves a wide audience. Even though this is a fictional story, the emotions and events the characters go through are all too real. I highly recommend this masterpiece to everyone. I love a book that draws me in and opens my eyes.