Mustard Seed
Written by Laila Ibrahim
Narrated by Bahni Turpin
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
The bestselling author of Yellow Crocus returns with a haunting and tender story of three women returning to the plantation they once called home.
Oberlin, Ohio, 1868. Lisbeth Johnson was born into privilege in the antebellum South. Jordan Freedman was born a slave to Mattie, Lisbeth’s beloved nurse. The women have an unlikely bond deeper than friendship. Three years after the Civil War, Lisbeth and Mattie are tending their homes and families while Jordan, an aspiring suffragette, teaches at an integrated school.
When Lisbeth discovers that her father is dying, she’s summoned back to the Virginia plantation where she grew up. There she must face the Confederate family she betrayed by marrying an abolitionist. Jordan and Mattie return to Fair Oaks, too, to save the family they left behind, who still toil in oppression. For Lisbeth, it’s a time for reconciliation. For Jordan and Mattie, it’s time for liberation.
As the Johnsons and Freedmans confront the injustice that binds them, as well as the bitterness and violence that seethes at its heart, the women must find the courage to free their families—and themselves—from the past.
Laila Ibrahim
Laila Ibrahim spent much of her career as a preschool director, a birth doula, and a religious educator. That work, coupled with her education in developmental psychology and attachment theory, provided ample fodder for the story lines of her bestselling novels: Paper Wife, Mustard Seed, and Yellow Crocus. She’s a devout Unitarian Universalist, determined to do her part to add a little more love and justice to our beautiful and painful world. She lives with her wonderful wife, Rinda, and two other families in a small cohousing community in Berkeley, California. Her young adult children are her pride and joy. Laila is blessed to be working full-time as a novelist. When she isn’t writing, she likes to take walks with friends, do jigsaw puzzles, play games, work in the garden, travel, cook, and eat all kinds of delicious food. Visit the author at www.lailaibrahim.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lailaibrahim.author.
More audiobooks from Laila Ibrahim
Paper Wife: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living Right Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Mustard Seed
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Yellow Crocus Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mustard Seed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Golden Poppies: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scarlet Carnation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for Mustard Seed
526 ratings32 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a wonderful and impactful read. They appreciate the easy writing style and the courage shown by the characters. The historical context is well done and the narration is enjoyable. However, some readers found the story to be repetitive and the characters overly defined by their leading characteristics. Despite this, the majority of readers highly recommend this book and consider it a must-read for its portrayal of the trials and relationships during the Civil War."
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Three stars is quite high for me, I thought it was more than ok I really enjoyed this follow on book and would definitely recommend and the narration was wonderful ??
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ms. Turbin's reading of this delightful tell was impeccable. Thank you to the author and narrator!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved the continuation of the story of two women who both showed great courage in difficult times. Thank you.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoyed this book as well as the previous one! Characters were real! Situations about race and intolerance were dealt with fairly. Resolutions were not gift wrapped with a tidy bow, but were encouragingly directed toward hope. We choose our responses and these characters made choices that changed the lives of their own families as well as generations to follow and as well - strangers. Worth the read and the narrator did a marvelous job! WELL DONE ALL!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I loved the easy style of this author and how impacting the story was. Loved it!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was the second book of this series. It was good but not as gripping as the first one. Anyway the characters remained unforgettable and well drawn. I'm starting the third book now.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A griping and painful recounting of post Civil War atrocities
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Absolutely amazing!! The narrator did a wonderful job as well
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A brilliant follow-up to The Yellow Crocus, happy to find it and eager to read the next book too.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was very good. It contains historical issues that I had never thought about. Must read! I couldn't put it down. The narrator is amazing and the author very talented.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was an Excellent book which was difficult to put down
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed this book. I am a truck driver and listen to audiobooks while driving. This is the first book I listened to while at home because I couldn’t wait until I got back in the truck!!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wonderful story about the trials and tribulations during the Civil War. It is very well written, and helps the reader to feel the emotion that tour families apart during that time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A wonderful book ,I would recommend. Will definitely read again.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5MAGNIFICENT! Loved this sequel! My new favorite story teller. Following this author anywhere.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The story is very beautiful. To appreciate it fully, you need to read Yellow Crocus. Wonderful narration. Must read!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I think this sequel to Yellow Crocus (which I also loved) may have been even better! I love the characters. The topic of slavery is hard, but this book puts you right there, and does an amazing job of telling the difficulties as well as the relationships between owners and slaves. Definitely recommend.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An amazing sequel to the amazing Yellow Crocus. Reading these books in 2020, it is shocking to realise so little has changed, behind the veneer of society. Please read these books. They give context to history, when looking at twentyfirst century troubles.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book was the much needed continuation to Yellow Crocus. I enjoyed seeing the characters develop further.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow amazing history so well done can’t wait to read more of this author
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spell binding. Love the resilience of the characters though would love move one to rescue family one does not even know who they are looking for. Like finding a human needle in a hay stack. Hmmmm
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Reads like a long long teaching moment. Often repetitive . Overuse of the verb acquiesced which furthered the teaching moment feeling. Since all of the characters were so overly much defined by their intended leading characteristics they didn’t at all seem real, which made it impossible to feel with or for them.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was a good read, enjoy it. Would recommend to others
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very well written story. Read very well too. The only problem I had was that i didn`t always knowing when it was the child or adult daughter telling that part. I am working when it`s being read, so that may be part of it, but I usually don`t have this problem.
2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I loved (most of) this book. It was great until the ending, which was soooooooo loooooong. In fact, the last 3 chapters could have been edited down to one. I eye-rolled right up until the end, which is too bad because the first 85% was was so well written.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a sequel to Yellow Crocus, but it can be read as a stand alone. The year is 1868. Lizbeth Wainright Johnson receives word in Ohio that her father is dying in Virginia and she needs to return to the south. Lizbeth is estranged from her family because they supported different sides during the war.Meanwhile Mattie, a former slave, and who was once Lizbeth's nurse also living nearby in Ohio convinces her family they need to go to Virginia to rescue a cousin, Sarah who is still working on a plantation.Virginia is slow to adapt to the slaves being free and some like Sarah, believe they have no place to go, and fear being unable to take of herself.Once in Virginia, Lizbeth and Mattie and her family are compelled to join forces, against Lizbeth's family and to rescue Sarah.There are several interesting twists and turns to this story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A history lesson laced with morality lessons wrapped up in fictional form. Post Civil War era in Virginia...slavery is over right? Barely. Two families merge to free relatives from the hold of a barbaric plantation owner, a black and white family saga. MUSTARD SEED is a story of what truly creates family bonds. A fast read that really does keep your attention up to the last page!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fantastic. The Civil War is over and so is the former slave’s struggle - or so Jordan believes. Growing up in an Ohio town that is fully accepting freedmen and runaway slaves, she has no idea about the reality of the suffering still going on in the South. A trip to Virginia with her mother proves her parents are right about conditions and Jordan is oh so wrong.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mustard Seed is the sequel to Yellow Crocus, taking place about 10 years after the end of Yellow Crocus. It continues the story of Lisbeth and Mattie and their families in Virginia after the Civil War.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book covered a subject that I had not previously thought about; the situation of black slaves after the end of the civil war. This is a book that needs to be read because of the subject matter, but it was not as enjoyable as Yellow Crocus. I felt the author was preaching to us rather than entertaining us. Good nonetheless.