Complimentary review copy provided by publisher.
Set in a very near future in an alternate timeline where Civil Rights Movement never happened, instead a second civil war was fought in the mid-20th century. The United States was toppled and an overt white supremacist regime installed at the helm of the country now known as the Order whose federal seat now resides in Texas. In this reality Black citizens are categorized as Decedents of Slavery and controlled by the state; males are conscripted as soldiers to quell civil unrest throughout the land, often losing their lives in the process, females are assigned to white men for a period of five years at age 15, then married off to Black men, always used as the men see fit, and of course their main purpose a vessel for procreation.
The story follows Solenne who, at age 15, becomes entangled with Bastien, a high-ranking Order official being groomed as the next leader. Their relationship is controversial as Solenne, now aged 20, is not merely his assignment but instead lives as his concubine, both Bastien and Solenne believing love a part of their union. Intertwined with Solenne’s reality is a biography she is penning of her ancestor, Henriette, who was brought from Africa to be enslaved in America as a teenager in 1801.
The Blueprint is a compelling piece of speculative literary fiction with undeniable echos of The Handmaid’s Tale and historical relationships such as that of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Rashad has created a feasible and recognizable world drawn not only from the roots of our history, but our present as well. This familiarity lends a fascinating and unsettling layer to the story as it explores themes of autonomy, choice, love, liberty, control, and power. There’s much to chew on here and all told with lyrical prose. I couldn’t put this down once I started reading.
That Bookish Life 