by Veronica Chambers. Little, Brown and Company. September, 2024. Advanced copy courtesy of the publisher.
Veronica Chambers is an Afro-Latine teacher, publishing executive, New York Times best-selling author, and award-winning journalist. She graduated of Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and was a John S. Knight fellow in journalism entrepreneurship and innovation at Stanford University. Chamber’s writing, whether for adults or teens, often captures moments in Black history, indeed US history, to use as a masterclass in hope and possibility.
Ida, in Love and in Trouble is a historical novel about the life of Ida B. Wells, a Black women educator and journalist who was most known for her anti-lynching work. By adding elements of fiction to Wells’ life, Chambers creates a fully realized Black women living at the turn of the 20th century. Here we have a Black woman who though oppressed both as a Black and as a woman, was able to create her own standing in her community. I think her genius was that she understood the value of her character; she never amassed a fortune of her own.
Ida said, “I would say that in every community, there is at least one woman –or two or three—who is a wonder at inhabiting the countenance of goodness. But everyone knows that these women are, at the heart of things, wicked gossips, and capable of the most withering comments.”
There was mumbling in the room then, and Mollie raised a hand. “No naming names, please. We mustn’t turn this gathering into a scandal. Ida, please continue.”
“I think one’s goodness is a private matter,” Ida said softly. “It is between you and God who knows it all. But a new century is coming, the world we as Black people for generations to come is being built right now. Our people and our nation needs women who will apply whatever talents they might have to the business of equality, justice, and the real work of forming a more perfect union.”
“Elect that woman to office!” Mollie said.
Well, first we must get the vote,” Ida said softly.
(ARC p. 245)
Wells grew up in Holly Springs Mississippi. Both of her parents died when she was 16, leaving her to care for her seven siblings. As Ida In Love and in Trouble begins, Wells is trying to situate herself among the Black bourgeoisie in Memphis. A schoolteacher in her twenties, she defines her success as achieving this proximity to whiteness and marrying. As a journalist in her thirties, she defines success by her ability to create a global community to end the lynching of Blacks in the United States. She’s in love, and in trouble.
What works: Chambers writing evokes the spirit of the era, reaffirming the presence of Blacks among the elites. But, Ida’s career success developed in her a keen awareness to the bodies upon which it was built. Progress for her was communal. Ida in Love is structured to pull readers along with its main character into the notion that freedom must be collective. My 21st century sensibilities felt the oppressive nature of the codified structure around dress, speech, and pedigree. Yet, Chambers communicated the grace and dignity with which Wells maneuvered her world.
What didn’t work: I wanted more! I wanted to know how Ida went from rural Mississippi to the opera house in Memphis, where she learning to ses, why she wasn’t paid for her articles, and so much more! This 383-page book has left me with a greater sense of pride in Wells’ work, but at the same time wanting to know more about her, and others whom I’ve only become acquainted with through their brief biographies. This however, doesn’t reflect Chambers, shortcomings. Quite the opposite!
Pass it or Grab it? High school and public libraries should make this book available to readers who are coming to appreciate US history. While this is a work of fiction, the liberties taken don’t affect historical events. Some may be disturbed by the lynchings. Actually, we all should be. Knowledge indeed is power so, we need to know these things. Wells’ work as a journalist and educator is testament to that fact. She was disturbed into action.
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