A review by nonna7
Bloodroot by Susan Wittig Albert

3.0

I needed something light after two dark books back to back. I got it in this fun romp in the Mississippi Delta. China's mother has been caring for her Aunt Tulie who has run the family plantation for years. She asks China to come for a visit because there are problems & she needs her expertise as an attorney. China reluctantly agrees. It soon becomes obvious there are big problems. Aunt Tulie is suffering from Huntington's Disease which has made unpleasant changes in her personality and made her movements very erratic. China learns that the plantation manager had visited them with a deed that would give him claim of their home as well as the best parts of the plantation. Aunt Tulie had hit him on the side of the head with her cane when this happened. At the same time, China has a dream that she hadn't had since she was a child - where she saw a body being dug up and Aunt Tulie sobbing. However, she begins to think that it's just her vivid imagination. Then the pajamas she wore that night appear in her bureau drawer, washed and neatly pressed, and her great grandmother's journal appears on her desk in her room. She had put it where she found it in the library but not before smelling lily of the valley. Now it is suddenly on her desk. Nobody will admit to doing that. This book isn't hard to figure out as you read it. The only surprise was one that came out of the blue more or less relating to the death of the plantation manager. It's in there more as an afterthought in many ways. Still this was a fun and relaxing quick read. You also learn a LOT about herbs including some really interesting ones in this book.