Breaking the line: Victoria’s Beginning follows the life of a young Christian girl, Victoria Roberts. Born with White skin and blue eyes to the embarrassment of her darker skinned Black parents, Tess and Clyde, Victoria faces rejection and colorism at an early age. Tess and Clyde send Victoria away to Dallas to live with her childless aunts, Charlotte and Mary. Charlotte is a wealthy widow, and Mary is clairvoyant. Mary has seen the difficult road ahead for Victoria if she makes the wrong choices because of her appearance. Because of this, Charlotte, Mary, and Victoria’s maternal grandparents, Chandra and Ed, shower Victoria with love and encourage her unique intelligence and talents to help keep her on the right path. However, Clyde and Tess, along with Clyde’s domineering, voodoo practicing mother, Betts, begin to spitefully interfere and attempt to crush and cower Victoria’s spirit. Can Victoria withstand the vindictive influence of Betts and her parents? Will she be able to remain true to her faith and herself to overcome the trials of her childhood and find her destiny as an adult? Or will she succumb to evil and find herself creating a line that she cannot break?
Victoria's Journey is a heart felt journey told in the first person. Victoria is born to black parents in 1940s Texas and due to her ancestry she looks more white than black. She is immediately rejected by her mother upon her birth, and her first experience of compassion was the doctor who delivered her. With this Ms. Friedman does an excellent job setting the stage that will be the tone of Victoria's whole life to date.
This is an interesting story of racism, not only from the outside world, but from her family as well (mostly her parents) as seen through the eyes of a child, and often she doesn't understand why these events are happening to her. Nothing is cut and dry about her journey into young adulthood. As Victoria grows into young adulthood things become more clear to her.
The writing flowed smooth and I was pulled into the story well enough that I finished the book in one sitting.
I don't usually read this type of fiction, but I'm glad I picked this one up. It reminded me of Alice Walker and Harper Lee, with a little bit of Faulkner mixed in (just a dash).
If you enjoy books like "The Color Purple" and "To Kill a Mockingbird" You will be right at home with "Victoria's Beginning."
Though this book is based on fact, it read like historical fiction, which was a plus for me. Reading this book made me think about the spiritual warfare going on all around us. I was sad for Victoria but glad that so many women in her life strengthened her. A good read!
Book 1 of the Amazon Bestselling Victoria's Journey series, Breaking the Line: Victoria's Beginning, received national recognition Monday, May 18, 2015 as a winner of the African American Fiction category for the National Indie Excellence Award. Breaking the Line: Victoria's Beginning is authored by, A'Mera Frieman, the Principle Author and Editor-in-Chief of Breaking the Line Books small press. This is the first year that Breaking the Line: Victoria's Beginning has been entered in the National Indie Excellence Award contest.
