Nicole (Bookiesandtea)'s Reviews > The Blueprint

The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad is a dystopian story of a woman's journey to reclaim her power, about sacrifice, and choosing one's destiny. It is set in an alternative America where an uprising during the 1950s led to the re-enslavement of Black women and all rights of women were revoked.

It is loosely inspired by Sally Hemings and other enslaved Black women who became concubines to powerful white men.

The book focuses on Solenne's journey during the year 2030, where she becomes concubine to one of the most powerful government officials. As the story progresses, we see Solenne as a naive teen who doesn't really realize how her freedom has been taken away from her. As she has been taught from a very young age that this is just how things are supposed to go.

"𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑴𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒏. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔, 𝒎𝒚 𝒖𝒏𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍, 𝒏𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒏𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒓. 𝑵𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎."

As she grows older and realizes that her voice, dreams, and aspirations do not belong to her, she starts to question everything and everyone.

This story was powerful, eye-opening and speaks volumes on not only how in the past Black women were considered objects but also an awakening and call to action of what can happen if women's rights and voices are taking away.