This book was really good! I liked the characters too. I hope to read more by this author soon!
I liked the setting too and the style of the author.

In 1930s Jackson, Mississippi, Lamb knows very well that she can never be friends with a white girl. She lives with her hairdresser mom and her older brother, who dreams of going to school in the north when he graduates high school in the spring. When Marny, a white girl, lends Lamb a book she loves, she tries to form a friendship that Lamb tries to hide. The secret is discovered by the wrong people, and a devastating series of events are set in motion.

This story was absolutely heartbreaking. The pace was slow, but the story was presented beautifully. This is YA, but I would recommend it to adults too! A full cast narrated the audiobook, one for each of the 6 characters who have a first-person POV at various times throughout the book.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

For Lamb is a truly touching literary fiction that was especially heart felt as I read it during Black History Month. Whether you normally enjoy YA or not, I believe this book will be one of your top reads of the year. There are not many books that make me emotional when reading them, but this one certainly did. I finished this book two weeks ago, and I have not stopped thinking about it yet. Make no mistakes, this book is hard hitting. It is not a feel good, carefree read. It is heavy! One thing for sure, two things for certain, this author can write! I want to give her all her flowers, and I look forward to reading her next book…which I’m not sure is even in the works, but I hope so.

Also, please take the time to read the Author’s Notes, it really helps to bring the book home.

Lamb lives in Jackson, Mississippi in the late 1930s and she know life is not fair. From being just trying to exist as a young black girl in the South to being raised by her mother and existing in her brother's shadow, Lamb has accepted her role as a quiet, studious girl getting by and not causing any waves. She's never wanted to step out of her more or less comfortable role, but then she's offered a book by a white girl who seemingly also wants to be her friend. By accepting the book, Lamb changes the course of not just her own life, but all those around her.

This is a stunning story, both beautiful and brutal in it's honestly. Although Lamb is the main character, the alternating view points make this a community and generational story as readers hear from Lamb, her brother, mother, uncle, and several other less central, but no less important, characters. There is an emotional intensity and suspense to this novel heightened by the fact that readers know it will end in lynching while it meanders through the daily lives of each member of this community. You see the best and the worst of folks and the end is both heartbreaking and hopeful. It is a story that will stick with readers.

Powerful, important, slow but hard-hitting. Lamb makes friends with a white girl, which is something you don't do in 1930s Mississippi. This tells the story of everything that happens because of that friendship and all that came before for several generations. A story of friendship, family, love, and sacrifice. You will be furious, question the world around you, and yet you will still be left with a bit of hope.

A full cast made this audiobook wonderful. With so many different perspectives it would have been incredibly challenging for a single reader to accomplish what was done with a full cast.

For Lamb was an intense journey of Lamb and and their family as they traverse living in Mississippi during the era of segregation. I was amazed at how the author wove together the stories of the time as well as used actual individuals to give a way to attempt telling their stories that have been lost to time.

I think this an important work for people to read because of the historical context. The writing style was also done so well.

In terms of the audio book, I loved the aspect of not only the multi POVs, but the fact that multiple voice actors were used to tell the story. It really helped to fully immerse myself when listening.

High recommend.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction by one of my favorite authors. I felt like I understood Lamb so well by the end of the book and really loved the exposition of her family dynamic. Overall another strong book that I will definitely be recommending others to read.

4.5 rounded to 5 stars

Wow, I was not expecting this ending. A heavy story of a young Black girl named Lamb living in the South who befriends a proper, rich white girl named Marnie, which ends up going horribly wrong when Marnie’s older brother George crosses the line with Lamb. A innocent family member pays the ultimate price.

Although this is a work of fiction, it is most definitely based on true events.

Trigger warnings: Sexual abuse/assault, molestation, lynching, death, racism, classism, crude language, etc.

Folks who enjoy reading historical fiction, especially of Black culture and life, and can handle a little heaviness near the end, would really enjoy this book.

(I received this audiobook ALC via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you.)

This was a beautiful story that was a real gut-punch. I have so much admiration for Lamb's mother; how she sacrifices herself to save her son in the end. I like the relationship that was shown between Lamb and the white girl; it didn't turn out well, unlike with some other books, which I'm sure was the experience of many. Not many books have portrayed a lesbian woman from the early 20th century. Great read!

I enjoyed the narration throughout the book. This book was hard to get into but it has a decent storyline. I would recommend it to young adults.

Important, realistic, but super intense. Another one that you should be mentally and emotionally prepared for before reading. The story started off kinda slow, but when it hits, it really hits.

One of the best books I’ve ever read. Such powerful prose. Although this is being marketed as YA, this is a powerful story that adults will appreciate. The amount of research the author put into the historical fiction is impeccable. I absolutely balled my eyes out.

Lesa Cline-Ransome has done it again!

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Finding Langston series in the past so I was very excited when I discovered For Lamb. She has written another book that shines a light on and pays homage to an important piece of Black History that is often obscured. This novel is both a beautiful coming-of-age story and a heartbreaking tribute to lynching victims.

The characters are well-developed and multifaceted. The narration, done by a full cast, is beautifully executed and really brings the story, and all its emotions, to life.

4.5 stars, rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me access to the audiobook version of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

As once the premise of this book, beautify describes what the book is actually about. So swipe please to read it.

From my perspective, I was introduced to the family who is navigating their lives in the hard times they had to live in. The mother, who has a secret and suffers generational trauma, yet she loves her children so much she would do anything to protect them. Her son who sees all the disadvantages he has as a young black man and decides to leave this all behind and try to better himself the best way possible. And Lamb, a young, shy girl whose naïveness is absolutely endearing and lovely, but also gets her in serious trouble. The author decided in this historical fiction story, present a reader with living and breathing characters who suffer lynching in the Jim Crow era. There is not enough documentation to give each victim a voice, but the story here does just that. Present the raw reality of this time in American History.

This book educated me, shutter my heart and then some. But if anyone wonders what to pick up during Black History Month, I think this audiobook or even a book is a perfect choice.

A deeply painful (doesn’t even come close to what I want to say but there are no words) reminder of our history and inhumane, unsound, explicit, etc actions humans take against other humans.

Lamb is as innocent as her namesake yet is growing up, building relationships, figuring herself out. Figuring her community out. She’s walking the thin line that is boundaries between white and black in her community. Nothing is what it could be and is in fact so much worse. The horrors of the world are at play right “next door” ….

Lamb’s story broke my heart for her, for people of the past, for people today. I meet Marnie’s occasionally. They say one thing and act one way, but one person wrongs them or one bad headline and the ugly comes out.

A reminder that there’s a time cry and a time to act.

Beautifully written. I listened to the audio and I highly recommend both audio and a hard copy. The actors were INCREDIBLE.

From the first line of this book I was hooked and all in. With at least seven different narrators I was drawn in immediately and invested in every person who was part of Lambs story. Definitely check this audible version out. The story was tough. And important. But gut-wrenching. Five big stars for this unforgettable story.

4.75⭐ on 🎧

The way this book destroyed me this weekend..my heart aches for Lamb, for Simeon and for their entire family and friends. Set in Mississippi during the 1950s, Lesa tells a story of Lamb, a black girl, becoming friends with a white girl and bonding over books. But what seems harmless at first turns into a whole lot of trouble because racism.

I truly loved Lamb and her thoughtfulness as she explored the world and grew into her space throughout this book. The characters Lesa created were beautiful and complex and it only made the hand so heartbreaking. Lesa was inspired to write this story based on her research on Southern lynching and so much of this book is pulled from history that this truly is a must read to understand racial issues both in the South and throughout America.

The most poignant point in this book: Americans cared more about what was happening to the Nazis in Germany than how colored people were getting killed in the South in the 1950s.

Let that sink in and sit in that uncomfortable fact. That is the legacy of the South and it has completely reframed how I think of the history I learned in school.

Content warnings for child sexual assault, racism, lynching.

For Lamb is a powerful and striking novel set in 1930s Jackson, Mississippi.

Told in multiple POVs, For Lamb tackles not only blatant racism, bigotry, and hatred but also interracial friendship, being lesbian in the 30s, continuing education in a country that didn’t want to see black people succeed or grow, and the power of love.

This book absolutely gutted me and I would absolutely read it again. This is a novel that needs to be on shelves everywhere. Although For Lamb is historical fiction, this is a piece that is REAL and TRUE at its core. Whether you physically read this or listen to it, make sure to listen to the epilogue - trust me.

THIS IS A MUST READ!! It’s also a must listen— the full cast audio was a masterclass.
Lamb lives in the Jim Crow segregated south in Jackson, MS in 1940. Her brother wants to escape to college in Ohio and her mother just wants her children to keep their heads down and stay safe. Through a shared love of reading, Lamb is one day befriended by a white girl. This sets in motion a chain of events that results in a tragedy that changed their lives forever.
I don’t have the words except to say how important this book is, especially in these times. These stories are a truth and reckoning that we need to face.
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” Ida B Wells
*Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this audiobook copy for review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so powerful and incredible. I don’t have the words to describe how moving and heartbreaking this book is.