All the Days Past, All the Days to Come

Starred review from November 11, 2019
This absorbing historical novel concludes the five-volume story of the Logan family, which began in 1975 with Song of the Trees, followed by the Newbery Award–winner Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Here,
narrator Cassie, now a grown woman, describes an era of sweeping social change, which begins with the post-WWII Great Migration north and culminates with the civil rights movement. Cassie’s struggles and joys are decidedly adult, as she graduates from college and moves to Toledo to live with her brother’s family, seeks work in California, marries and becomes a widow, and eventually decides to fulfill a childhood dream of becoming a lawyer, a profession she eventually employs to register black voters in her home state of Mississippi. Taylor deftly sketches the strong characters of this tight-knit, though increasingly far-flung, family, and offers insights into seismic social movements and systematic oppression in the grim realities of racism faced by the family. A memorable heroine and her keen sense of injustice propel this satisfying conclusion to a landmark family saga. Ages 14–up.

Starred review from November 1, 2019
A heart-stopping plot about a character whose life has always been defined by her family and their land. Readers who have followed Cassie Logan since Song of the Trees (1975) will feel the paradigm shift as she moves first to Ohio and then California and Colorado, where she still suffers racism, although different from that in Mississippi. In California, after Cassie miscarries, then gains and loses the love of her life, grief becomes her constant companion. Later, as a successful lawyer and the only Negro in a Boston firm, she remains dedicated to her family and their values, using her legal skills to advance civil rights, initially reluctantly but then willingly when injustice visits a close friend. Not surprisingly, Mama, Papa, Big Ma, and Uncle Hammer figure prominently in this novel, and when Cassie falls for a white colleague, several family members blatantly object to the relationship. This novel places the Logans' struggles amid historical events: Opening in 1944, it includes the integration of Ole Miss, the murders of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers, and the impacts of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Taylor (The Land, 2001, etc.) refers frequently to episodes from her other novels, but this story also gives readers an up-close and personal view of key events of the civil rights movement. In this Logan swan song, Taylor is at her best. Surely the crown jewel of the Logan family saga. (Historical fiction. 12-18)

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December 1, 2019

Gr 9 Up-Cassie Logan comes from the resilient, proud, and dignified Logan family of the Great Faith community in Mississippi. Throughout her life she witnesses the Great Migration and World War II, and experiences Jim Crow in public and private. She realizes teaching is not on her path and eventually pursues law in Boston. She is wooed by Central American construction man Flynn De Baca and has a tumultuous courtship and marriage with him until his drowning death, then alienates herself from her family due to her clandestine relationship with Guy Hallis, a white law firm colleague. Eventually, Cassie returns to Mississippi to participate in voter registration. Her family's lives are tested when Papa's health deteriorates. Taylor (Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry) has captivated legions of readers with award-winning masterful tales of the Logan family for over 40 years. Readers may find it hard to keep track of the numerous characters, though the presence of African American professionals and businesses is refreshing, and the family's tight-knit dynamic is captivating. Taylor brilliantly weaves the fictional Logans and their communities with real historical figures and organizations. She makes it easy for those new to the series by recapping notable moments. VERDICT Readers will fall in love with the Logans, whether for the first time or again, with this important conclusion to a literary era.-Donald Peebles, Brooklyn Public Library

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Taylor completes her monumental saga of the Logan family of Mississippi that began with her first novel, Song of the Trees (1975). This concluding volume finds Black protagonist Cassie now a 19-year-old college student in the early 1940s, and Taylor sweepingly charts Cassie's life in the years to come. She relocates from Mississippi to Toledo, Ohio, where her brother, Stacey, has moved as part of the Great Migration. She then moves to California, where she falls in love and marries. Pregnant, she experiences twin tragedies that propel her to law school. Graduating, she joins a white law firm in Boston where the (white) son of one of the partners falls in love with her and proposes, raising the issue of interracial marriage. Having now reached the '60s, Cassie joins the civil rights movement to her peril. Obviously, her story is paradigmatic, a brilliant dramatization of Black life in America during the 1940s, '50s, and '60s. Taylor is unsparing in her depiction of the years of segregation and of the Black experience of white racism, bigotry, and injustice. Written in a spare, unadorned style that matches the material and propels the narrative forward, this never-didactic book is irresistibly readable, while the richly realized, highly empathic characters are unforgettable. Taylor's remarkable novel is, in sum, that rare exception: an absolutely indispensable book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)