I am being generous with my rating as I did find the premise interesting (Effie - an escaped slave returning to the South after the war to find her roots and family is also as an educated and skilled body embalmer). I love historical fiction but overall, this book became one jumbled story thrown together with unlikeable characters, plot holes and a quick and unsatisfying ending.
I found Effie's immediate infatuation with Samson over-the-top and way too cheesy, her friendship with Adeline fake and her partnership with Mr. Whitmark underdeveloped with no conclusion. The amount of backstabbing is depressing

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