Review By: Anonymous
Published: 2022
Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Mystery
Audience: Grades 11 and 12, Adult
Content Warnings: Racism, racial violence, KKK, murder, hate crime, grief
Goodreads Link: The Last House on the Street
Publisher’s Summary:
From the Sunday Times top ten bestselling author of The Silent Sister and Big Lies in a Small Town comes a powerful, gripping and unmissable new novel.
Secrets won’t stay silent for ever.
2020. A recently widowed architect moves into the home she and her late husband designed, heartbroken that he will never cross the threshold. But when disturbing things begin to happen, it’s clear that someone is sending her a warning. Who is trying to frighten her away, and why? It is only when she meets an elderly neighbour that she learns the street has a shocking and tragic past. A past that some will go to any lengths to keep hidden.
1964. A young white female student becomes involved in the fight for civil rights in North Carolina, falling in love with one of her fellow activists, in a time and place where an interracial relationship must be hidden from family, friends and especially the reemerging Ku Klux Klan. As tensions rise in the town, she realises not everyone is who they appear to be.
Decades later, past and present are set to collide in the last house on the street…
Review:
The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain is a novel that explores racism, courage, and forbidden love across generations in a small town in North Carolina. The story alternates between the years 1965 and 2010. In 1965, Ellie Hockley, a white college student, joins the SCOPE project, a Civil Rights initiative with the goal of helping to register Black voters in the segregated South. Her family and friends did not accept her choice and she felt very rejected by them but passionate about the movement, making the choice to stand up for justice. From there, she developed a forbidden relationship with a Black man named Win which led to heartbreaking consequences.
In 2010, Kayla Carter, a young recently widowed architect, moves into her newly built dream home in a neighborhood that borders the old Hockley property. When strange and menacing things begin happening around her, Kayla discovers that the shadows and pain of the past still linger 45 years later. She discovers that her new home is connected to a dark and tragic history.
Chamberlain did an excellent job of blending history, social injustices and a love story. The story, and alternating timelines, moved at a good pace keeping the reader invested. She also did well depicting the racial tensions of the past. It was a very thought provoking historical fiction containing emotional depth.
The main themes of the story included racial injustice, moral courage, forbidden love, and female strength.
This book would be appropriate for older teens interested in historical fiction or studying racial injustices. It could be used in a history class that covers topics such as civil rights, the South in the 60s, racial justice and equity, and racial alliance for example. Some activities could include:
• Research project on the SCOPE project, comparing it to the novel’s portrayal.
• A discussion on how the events of the past continue to affect and shape communities today.
• Write a diary entry from the perspective of Kayla and or Ellie.
