Debut novel takes an old form to a new place

America’s troubled racial past drives a coming-of-age story with a firm footing in history

So many historical novels read like connect-the-dots puzzles or costume dramas, so one that is fresh, original and time-travels to an undiscovered past is a real discovery.

In her debut novel, “Jam on the Vine,” LaShonda Katrice Barnett focuses on how African-American people lived after emancipation. The spirit of Ida B. Wells, journalist and civil rights activist, inhabits this novel, and the conflicts of that era, like the 1919 race riots, seem eerily resonant today, especially in a post-Ferguson, Mo., world.

At the heart of this novel is Ivoe Williams, daughter of a Muslim cook, whom we meet as a little girl in small-town Texas. At the home where her mother works, Ivoe comes across newspapers and steals castoffs to read. Barnett subtly and gracefully depicts how Ivoe evolves from a precocious little girl into a young woman with a voice of her own. Along the way, Ivoe registers injustice around her and is inspired by teachers who encourage her writing.

She continues to read newspapers, gradually comprehending that the lynching and fires that may make for a phrase or two in print mean something more. She calls for African-Americans to hold their heads high and persevere. She goes to college but finds the road to journalism blocked in the Jim Crow South.

Barnett, who was born in Kansas City, Mo., and grew up in Park Forest, understands Northern racism. She brings that perspective to bear when Ivoe moves to Kansas City and with her lover starts the first female-run African-American newspaper, called “Jam! On the Vine.” Through her reporting and editorials, Ivoe brings attention to injustices suffered in Kansas City, and she is fierce, brave and unrelenting.

Ivoe’s reports and editorials run through the novel’s second half, imparting an urgency to the narrative.

“Jam on the Vine” stands on its own as a powerful comingof-age novel, and it is also a sharp reminder of the critically important role played by the African-American newspaper in American history.