Review Detail

Ida, in Love and in Trouble is a riveting historical novel that mixes fact and fiction while telling the life of Ida B. Wells. Wells was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was also one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Wikipedia.

I've read a lot of books about her life and learned about her work from a young age, but I was fascinated by the new details I learned about her in the novel. Adding the snippets of her diary and letters written by her helped me to paint a better picture of who she was outside of all of the work that she did. Readers get to hear Wells' innermost thoughts and feelings which allows them to connect with her on a deeper level. We see her triumphs, frustrations of fighting against class and race, and also her vulnerability of her thinking her journalism work alone is not good enough for the greater cause.

The formatting of this novel took a lot of getting used to as it read sometimes as fiction and other times like a biography (which left it disjointed at times). This issue did smooth itself out of the course of the novel and I found myself eagerly awaiting to see what Wells would take on next in her journey. Her life's work and accomplishments are amazing. She was fierce, confident, and a force to be reckoned making this novel such an inspiring read.

I think this novel is a great read for anyone interested in history and learning more about Wells' life. I learned so much and took away a lot of life lessons from her story.