The back cover of this book states it is about Henry McAllan who moves his city bred wife, Laura, to a cotton farm in the Mississippi Delta in 1946 and whilst this is the case, the book is much more than that - in my opinion, more of a who dunnit / murder mystery. The book takes its title from the name Laura gives to the farm - 'Mudbound'.The book opens with a burial then returns to an earlier point in time from where a different character picks up the tale as the chapters progress. In doing so the reader gets to hear the story from a number of perspectives and is rewarded with a well rounded tale.Being set in the deep South of America in 1946 it should come as no surprise that racism is a theme throughout. The attitudes expressed and the violence that takes place were un-comfortable to read but necessary due to its setting. Having said that the book taught me nothing about the time that I have not read in other books or seen on film.A real page turner of a book nonetheless, in the vein of John Grisham's 'A Time to Kill' and 'The Secret Life of Bees' by Sue Monk Kidd.

I really enjoyed this one, having much interest in the period in which it is based. Jordan depicts the time convincingly and it is another world as to how different races were segregated. As for the isolation and misery Laura feels at being essentially mudbound this too is well portrayed. I got really into the characters, hating "Pap" Mcallan, feeling a mixture of fondness and disappointment at the dependable Henry and holding awe for the great character that is Ronsl. They are great characters which help paint an engaging story, one which you know is never going to be an altogether happy one.

This is a book that perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere of the era through its characters. A profound and thought provoking read.

In When She Woke, Hillary Jordan explores how visible differences can help enforce prejudice and cause empathy to break down using a dystopian future as a backdrop, in Mudbound she does much the same but set firmly in the Mississippi Delta of the 1940s. The novel uses a number of POVs to tell a story of racial prejudice and unkindness that creates deep scars in a family and their tenants. The story opens with the burial of a family patriarch, a man who seems to be hated by the family he leaves behind. I found myself imagining all kinds of reasons why this man's death should have created so little grief; after all this is the literary rural Deep South, everyone knows that pretty much every kind of human wickedness is possible there! As the story unfolds it becomes clear that the man's fate was justified for many of the reasons I imagined. Despite this confirmation of my own prejudices about the time, place and people found in the novel it still manages to seem fresh and anticipating the ending would be a mistake. I must admit that I had only a very vague knowledge of the 761st Tank Battalion, pretty much all I knew was that they were known as the Black Panthers, they seem to have been given even less coverage than other similar units such as the Tuskegee Airmen (who at least have a film or two about them, although I believe there is one in the pipeline about the 761st now) One of the major characters in the drama of Mudbound served in the 761st and his sections of the story manage to convey the sense of disgust and disappointment that must have been felt by so many of the returning men, who served despite segregation and returned to states determined to undermine and force them back into 'their place'. The brutality of life in the rural delta is described in great detail, and it is the harshness of this set against the rare moments of beauty (such as when Ronsel discovers he is a father) that really bring home how bleak life can be. There is no happy ending to the story, no one has their prejudices overturned (although a few are confronted), and the only real 'good' to come from the story is the death of Pappy as well as the possibility of some glimmer of hope offered by the very last paragraph. However this lack of a Hollywood ending feels right, and gives veracity to the whole story.