I decided to review Ann. K. Howley’s YA novel, The Memory of Cotton for our Pittsburgh issue.
It may seem an unusual choice, but Howley, a California native, has made Bethel Park her home for several years.
She is the author of the award-winning memoir, Confessions of a Do-Gooder Gone Bad about growing up in a conservative religious family in Southern California.
Howley is a regular contributor to Pittsburgh Parent Magazine, skirt! Magazine, Bicycle Times Magazine, and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Howley also teaches writing classes for the Community College of Allegheny County’s community education program and hosts weekend writing retreats for aspiring writers.
The Memory of Cotton begins in Pittsburgh, but most of the action takes place in the fictional town of Finley, North Carolina.
Pittsburgh is a city with a rich history. It was built by immigrants and African Americans who left their homes in search of work in the Steel Mills and opportunities to live a better life. A life they didn’t always get. Hate knows no geographical boundaries and intolerance can thrive anywhere.
Sometimes we forget this as we sit in the safety of our own homes. As a young woman, Howley received a reminder that would haunt her for over 30 years. Finally, she decided to write about it.
After her grandmother received a package with a Ku Klux Klan robe in it from an anonymous sender, Howley learned her great grandfather had been a member of The Ku Klux Klan.
She could have easily buried this information or tried to excuse it, but instead, Ann chose to make it into a teaching moment for young adults by writing a novel they can relate to and understand.
During a time in America when people are attempting to sanitize history and shield children from the truth, Howley jumps headfirst into a controversial subject and never looks back.
She researched Ku Klux Klan activity during the time period her great-grand-father would have been an active member. She learned the Klan targeted many groups, Blacks, immigrants, Catholics, Jews, families of mixed race or ethnicity, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Anyone who was different. During this particular time period, they were especially intolerant of Catholic immigrants and members of the LGTBQ+ community. They waved the American flag, calling for all true patriots to join them in protecting America for Americans. They fed on fear and ignorance to garner support for their activities and used intimidation to ensure the silence of others.
Howley wanted to create a story that would reflect the mood of those times. A story that would resonate with young people today. She chose to send her characters on a journey of discovery and reconciliation that would begin in Pittsburgh, a city of immigrants, and lead them to North Carolina, a former Ku Klux Klan stronghold.
Shelby is a fifteen-year-old girl facing many challenges in her life. After a family tragedy and her parent's divorce, her grandmother Margaret and her only friend Darrin are the people she leans on for support. When her mother determines that Margaret shouldn't be living alone in her Pittsburgh home, Shelby is tasked with helping to pack up her grandmother's things in preparation for a move to a nursing home.
In an old suitcase, Shelby finds a Ku Klux Klan robe belonging to her great grandfather who was Margaret's father. The discovery unearths painful memories Margaret has repressed for 60 years.
In a bold attempt to set things right with the law and her childhood friend Rose, Margaret convinces Shelby to accompany her back to Finley, North Carolina where something terrible happened. Shelby enlists the help of Darrin as their driver and moral support.
Darrin is sixteen and facing family issues of his own. His parents have a set idea of how he should behave and what he should do with his life and they refuse to accept that their son has different wants and needs from those they have assigned to him.
The trip is life-changing for Shelby, Margaret, Darrin, and Rose, but you'll get no spoilers from me.
Ann examines the fine line between fear and hate and the many groups throughout history who have suffered because someone decided it was easier to hate than understand and easier to destroy than to accept anyone who was different.
The characters in this book are believable, authentic, and relatable. The topics discussed are timely and important for teens and adults. While the subject matter is serious, Ann injects a wealth of humor and humanity into the story through her characters. I was hooked from the first line, and I didn't want the story to end. I hope she revisits, Shelby, Margaret, and Darrin in another book because she has made me care about what happens to them as if they have become my friends.
In addition to The Memory of Cotton and Confessions of a Do-Gooder Gone Bad, Howley contributed to The HerStories Project Anthology, So Glad They Told Me: Women Get Real About Motherhood.
She is currently at work on a new Middle-grade novel (ages 8-12) about a boy in heaven who teams up with his sister’s deceased pet to stop his sister from making a mistake that could ruin her life.