Mirror Girls

December 15, 2021
Grades 9-12 McWilliams' latest novel is a moving story about sisterhood and perseverance in the face of a society that tells Black girls they are worthless. In 1953, Charlie escorts her dying grandmother from New York City to Eureka, Georgia, where the elderly woman has requested to be buried. As a native New Yorker, Charlie is unprepared for the rampant racism in 1950s Georgia. Nor did she expect to be introduced to her white-passing twin sister, Magnolia, who grew up believing she was a white Southern belle. When the two meet, they learn about the tragic end their parents met and a curse that could be the death of Magnolia, and they have a chance to stand up to white supremacy in the South. With its strong family overtones, Mirror Girls will resonate with fans of character-driven stories, and it paints a vivid picture of the pervasive, ugly history of slavery in the U.S. McWilliams' historical novel easily weaves magic and curses into 1950s America in a powerful read asserting that Black girls can find happiness in a world that belittles them.

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March 28, 2022
Biracial twins separated at birth navigate colorism, racism, and the ghosts of their shared past in McWilliams’s (Agnes at the End of the World) atmospheric historical novel. In 1953, Charlie Yates, who is Black and works as an organizer in Harlem, travels “home” with her dying grandmother to segregated Eureka, Ga.—where Charlie’s interracial parents were murdered, and where the veil between the living and the dead is thin. There, a mystical mirror reveals that dark-skinned Charlie has a long-lost sister, Magnolia Heathwood, who, lacking knowledge of her ancestry, has always passed for white in Eureka, living on her paternal family’s plantation. As a change mysteriously wrests Magnolia’s reflection from every mirror, spirits guide a questioning Charlie to fulfill their late mother’s final wish: to “fix what’s been broken” between the sisters. The two seek Magnolia’s reflection amid tension in the community, Charlie navigating segregationists’ threats while Magnolia struggles to both find her way out of a system that has until now benefited her and decide who she wants to be when she looks in the mirror. Literalizing the ghosts of the Deep South through a lively backdrop of haunted mansions and vengeful spirits, McWilliams employs alternating chapters voiced by each sister to take on the issue of colorism, resulting in a tender display of sisterhood and bravery amid historical truths. Ages 12–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

Starred review from May 1, 2022

Gr 7 Up-In 1936 Eureka, GA, infant twin girls, one light and one described as "pecan brown," tragically lose their parents and are separated by their grandparents. Seventeen years later, Charlene Yates is escorting her dying grandmother to Eureka to fulfill her final wish. Charlie has grown into a community organizer with a strong sense of justice and what it means to be a Black woman in her New York world-but she's learning that being Black in the South is something entirely new. Meanwhile, Magnolia Heathwood has grown up in Eureka, raised as a white woman with abusive white Grandmother Blanche in the haunted Heathwood estate. As Blanche dies, she burdens Magnolia with the secret of her sister and her biracial identity, coupled with the demand that she keep passing so Blanche can have a white heir. The reveal triggers a curse that robs Magnolia of her reflection, and the cure requires the sisters to confront their fraught past-together. Readers will be kept on edge as Charlie and Magnolia navigate their newfound bond while confronting their wholly different lives and dreams, all in the midst of ghastly supernatural happenings and social turmoil. This hypnotic, compelling text holds a reflection up to America's violent and recurring history. Black pain at the hands of white violence is a foundational part of the plot, and McWilliams does not shy from describing gruesome wounds that Black folks carry-those living and dead. The end is somewhat open while providing a satisfying conclusion for the narrative arc. VERDICT A rich, foreboding historical horror tale that refuses to flinch in the face of hate crimes, discrimination, and the violence of white supremacy. Recommended for all teen fiction collections.-Ashleigh Williams

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2022
After their parents are brutally murdered for miscegenation in 1936, fraternal twin infants Charlie and Magnolia are separated. Because she can pass for white, Magnolia Heathwood is raised as a Southern belle on a plantation in Eureka, Georgia, by her white grandmother, Blanche, who keeps Magnolia unaware of her racial heritage. As the darker of the sisters, Charlie Yates is taken away from the Jim Crow South to Harlem and raised by her Black grandmother, Jeannette. On her deathbed in 1953, Blanche tells Magnolia of her parentage, and this truth causes Magnolia's reflection to mysteriously disappear. Meanwhile, Charlie has been thriving as a young activist; when Jeannette falls ill and asks to be buried in her hometown, they make the journey back to Eureka. Once there, Charlie learns about the circumstances of her birth, the existence of her sister, and a curse that affects them all. Raised in different worlds, Charlie and Magnolia must work together to end the family curse before they lose each other forever. McWilliams uses American history and Southern Gothic elements to create a thrilling story filled with complex characters and significant social themes, including colorism and race relations. Readers who enjoy historical fantasy narratives, such as Corthron's Daughters of Jubilation (rev. 1/21), will appreciate this captivating story of resilience, hope, and love. S. R. Toliver

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Biracial twin sisters, separated at birth in 1936 and raised on opposite sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, reunite to vanquish the metaphorical and literal ghosts of their entangled past. For nearly 17 years, fledgling civil rights activist Charlene "Charlie" Yates believed she was the only child of a Black mother and a White father who were murdered by White segregationists. She has lived in Harlem with Nana, her maternal grandmother, but when Nana becomes terminally ill and demands to be buried in her rural hometown of Eureka, Georgia, Charlie accompanies her. As a result, she learns that she has a twin sister--a White-passing Southern belle named Magnolia Heathwood. At first, Charlie wants nothing to do with her twin, who seems hopelessly adrift between two worlds. But Nana's death sheds light on a long-standing family curse that threatens Magnolia's life, and Charlie's conscience won't allow her to leave. As the girls grow closer, they unearth horrifying details about the town's brutal legacy of chattel slavery, discover how sisterhood can transcend the color line, and use the power of love to defeat the poison of hate. The narrative, which alternates between the first-person perspectives of Charlie and Magnolia, captures the horrors of Jim Crow without gratuitous detail, vividly depicts each sister's internal struggles, and speaks to McWilliams' skill with characterization. An immersive, supernatural take on the nuanced construction of Black identity that delivers hope and catharsis. (family tree) (Historical fiction. 13-18)

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)

January 1, 2022
After their parents are brutally murdered for miscegenation in 1936, fraternal twin infants Charlie and Magnolia are separated. Because she can pass for white, Magnolia Heathwood is raised as a Southern belle on a plantation in Eureka, Georgia, by her white grandmother, Blanche, who keeps Magnolia unaware of her racial heritage. As the darker of the sisters, Charlie Yates is taken away from the Jim Crow South to Harlem and raised by her Black grandmother, Jeannette. On her deathbed in 1953, Blanche tells Magnolia of her parentage, and this truth causes Magnolia's reflection to mysteriously disappear. Meanwhile, Charlie has been thriving as a young activist; when Jeannette falls ill and asks to be buried in her hometown, they make the journey back to Eureka. Once there, Charlie learns about the circumstances of her birth, the existence of her sister, and a curse that affects them all. Raised in different worlds, Charlie and Magnolia must work together to end the family curse before they lose each other forever. McWilliams uses American history and Southern Gothic elements to create a thrilling story filled with complex characters and significant social themes, including colorism and race relations. Readers who enjoy historical fantasy narratives, such as Corthron's Daughters of Jubilation (rev. 1/21), will appreciate this captivating story of resilience, hope, and love.

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)