The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

Character. Readers who are comfortable with fiction that weaves together episodes are those most likely to enjoy the debut novel from Ayana Mathis titled, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. Mathis uses the lives of protagonist Hattie and her children to describe the sweep of the Great Migration. Set mostly in Georgia and Philadelphia, between the 1920s and 1980s, Mathis presents key events in the lives of Hattie and her children to reveal this family across generations. Their struggles and joys engaged me from beginning to end. Mathis could have added hundreds of pages to present these lives in full. Instead, she used great efficiency to develop these characters so well in a finely written 250 page novel. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Twelve Tribes of Hattie from amazon.com.