Confessions in B Flat. Donna Hill. 2020. Sideways Books. 306 pages. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.]
Confessions in B Flat was a particular treat for me. I am, admittedly, not a huge fan of historical fiction. But the lure of its description was too much for me to walk away. Two young Civil Rights activists from differing ideologies find themselves struggling to figure out if a relationship can withstand their polarized views.
Anita and Jason are, in many ways, like oil and water. Despite coming from a “bougie” background, Anita, a part-time waitress and poet, moves to the beat of her own drum and is often compelled by a sense of doing what fulfills her. She finds herself a follower of Malcolm X and is deeply committed to all Harlem has to give. Jason, a Georgia native who comes north to spread the teaching of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is more bound by duty and expectation. He wants to do what is right, even if it comes with a sacrifice. Their initial interactions are fraught with conflict about how they approach the fight for civil rights, but their chemistry is undeniable.
Hill masterfully captured the culture wars that existed in the ’60s. Jason’s Southern roots came with lofty expectations around gender roles and respectability that he was loathe to depart from. Anita had that same upbringing, but the Northern environment meant she engaged with them in a more fluid way. The tension, literally and figuratively, represented the shifting from traditional to more modern ways of thinking among the Black community around this era. So for all of the courtship dances with their families, the two move to their own pace in a way that feels right, social expectations be damned.
The characters in this book featured depth and complexity and sometimes a bit of hypocrisy. Anita was intent on living life on her own terms, whether that be her faith, her activism, her relationships. She wasn’t so much stubborn as she was fighting to make sure her voice was heard. Jason’s fight to do what he believed was right took him away from all that felt safe, even if it meant putting himself in harm’s way. Hill’s portrayal of them both showed that neither character was wholly inflexible, but their choices were deeply rooted in their own life experiences and the world they knew could come to fruition. They were at times endearing, infuriating, but always authentic and relatable.
My favorite feature of Confessions in B-Flat is its embedding of actual landmarks into the story to the point where they as as much a character in the story as Anita and Jason. More than just neighborhood names and well-known streets, the settings include staple restaurants and Black-owned businesses. The author goes a step further to include photos of the settings. While the images themselves aren’t necessary, they do add a touch of palpability and context. The resulting vibe is a book that feels part historical fiction, part scrapbook.
For readers who are particularly interested in history, this book will be a treat for how it highlights major figures and seminal events in the world broadly and the Civil Rights Movement nationally. Beyond Martin and Malcolm, there are references to well-known figures including John Lewis, Angela Davis, and Bayard Rustin. But there were also lesser known (to me) events such as the Cambridge, Maryland riots. As someone who considers myself well-versed, I found that I learned new things and was eagerly bouncing between looking up unfamiliar names and places as Hill introduced them.
Confessions in B Flat is more than a romance and it’s more than another fictionalized account of the Civil Rights era. It’s an honest look at two regular people doing their best to find their place in the movement. It is an examination of how the Black community as a whole worked to reconcile their warring ideals as they sought a more just world. It’s also an opportunity to reconsider assumptions about people on the other side of the “fence.” I think that what takes Confessions in B Flat from being another historical romance to a book that has lessons that can still be applied today.
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