Ruby would be the first person in her family to have ever attended college.

She wanted desperately to go to college and the only way to make it happen was by winning one of the scholarships. Ruby had been accepted in the program, “We Rise” which granted full scholarships for all four years of college to the brightest and most deserving students in the program. She was smart, had made goals for herself and had aspired to become an optometrist ever since her grandmother developed glaucoma. They all made money by cleaning other people’s homes. All of the women in Ruby’s life had little education or skills. After an incident that Inez blamed Ruby for, she kicked Ruby out of her apartment. At that point, Ruby went to live with Inez but between Inez’s many boyfriends and her lack of parenting skills, Ruby remained with her mother for only a short time. Ruby remained with her grandmother until her grandmother developed glaucoma and couldn’t see anymore. Inez was incapable of earning enough money to take care of Ruby properly so Ruby was brought up by her grandmother. Ruby’s mother, Inez, was still a child herself when she gave birth to Ruby. Her mother was Ruby’s age when she became pregnant with Ruby. Ruby was a fifteen year old girl that lived in Philadelphia during the 1950’s. However, there are several tiny threads that materialized throughout The House of Eve that knotted their lives together. The House of Eve was told through the voices of two distinctly unrelated black women at completely different times in their lives. I was drawn into the story immediately and could not turn the pages fast enough to find out what was going to happen next. Her research for this book was impeccable and allowed me to learn so much about this time period. The characters in The House of Eve were memorable and so likable. The topics she covered and included in The House of Eve were both powerful and timely. Sadeqa Johnson has proven to be a brilliant storyteller, in my opinion. It was every bit as moving and compelling as I had hoped it would be. 4.5 stars! I was very excited to read The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson after having read her previous novel, The Yellow Wife.