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Family curse
Involuntary time travel
Ancestral legacy
Survival strategies
Historical landmarks

The Fallen Fruit

by SHAWNTELLE MADISON

A woman discovers a family curse that sends one member back in time each generation, leading her on a journey through history to uncover its origins and find a way to break it. The story weaves together themes of fate, love, and family bonds across multiple generations, blending historical fiction with elements of fantasy and time travel.

Reader Review Summary

Shawntelle Madison's debut novel "The Fallen Fruit" is a richly imaginative and engrossing multi-generational saga that seamlessly blends historical fiction with elements of fantasy and time travel. The ambitious premise - a family curse that involuntarily pulls one member of each new generation back through time - allows Madison to deftly explore resonant themes like the unbreakable bonds of family, the inevitability of fate, and the haunting legacy of America's brutal racial history.

From the outset, the novel hooks the reader with an air of delicious mystery, as professor Cecily Bridge-Davis inherits a piece of her family's land and begins uncovering the dark truth about her lineage's unique relationship to the laws of chronology. Madison's meticulous research pays off in imparting an authentic, immersive sense of time and place as Cecily falls back into various eras filled with richly drawn settings and characters.

The chapters centering on Cecily's trailblazing ancestor Emily in 1758's Pocahontas Island are a particular highlight, showcasing Madison's talent for bringing obscure slices of history vividly to life. But the shining core of the book lies in its memorable, multifaceted cast of protagonists scattered across the centuries. Whether witnessing the heart-wrenching romance between Sabrina and Luke in the 1780s, or empathizing with Rebecca's unthinkable burdens as a mother in the 1860s, readers will find a wealth of compelling figures to invest in.

Madison's nonlinear narrative may seem daunting on paper, but her confident handling of the intricate structure imbues each character's journey with urgency and poignancy. Multiple readers have praised how flawlessly the intricate timeline braids together by the novel's profoundly moving conclusion. While certain storylines do leave some insatiable curiosities, this only enhances the mystique of Madison's creation.

With its potent thematic heft, propulsive plotting, and enrapturing character work, "The Fallen Fruit" emerges as a tour-de-force of speculative historical fiction quite unlike anything else on the shelves. Those who cherish genre-blending family epics like "Kindred" and "The Time Traveler's Wife" are bound to get completely, spellbindingly lost between these pages. It marks the spectacular arrival of an immensely talented literary voice.

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