Things Past Telling: A Novel

Written by Sheila Williams

Narrated by Robin Miles

“This is a truly character-driven novel that explores how people define themselves, the creation of family and home, and the importance of memory and language. . . . Fans of historical epics won’t be able to put this book down.”—Historical Novel Society

“Emotionally satisfying. . . . A remarkable character portrait.”—Publishers Weekly

The author of The Secret Women tells the story of a brave and enduring woman as indomitable as Ernest Gaines’ legendary Miss Jane Pittman, in a breathtaking novel that combines the epic romance and adventure of Outlander, the sweeping drama of Roots, and the haunting historical power of Barracoon.

Things Past Telling is a remarkable historical epic that charts one unforgettable woman’s journey across an ocean of years as vast as the Atlantic that will forever separate her from her homeland. 

Born in West Africa in the mid-eighteenth century, Maryam Prescilla Grace—a.k.a “Momma Grace” will live a long, wondrous life marked by hardship, oppression, opportunity, and love. Though she will be “gifted” various names, her birth name is known to her alone. Over the course of 100-plus years, she survives capture, enslavement by several property owners, the Atlantic crossing when she is only eleven years of age, and a brief stint as a pirate’s ward, acting as both a spy and a translator. 

Maryam learns midwifery from a Caribbean-born wise woman, whose “craft” combines curated techniques and medicines from African, Indigenous, and European women. Those midwifery skills allow her to sometimes transcend the racial and class barriers of her enslavement, as she walks the razor’s edge trying to balance the lives and health of her own people with the cruel economic mandates of the slave holders, who view infants born in bondage not as flesh-and-blood children but as investment property. 

Throughout her triumphant and tumultuous life Maryam gains and loses her homeland, her family, her culture, her husband, her lovers, and her children. Yet as the decades pass, this tenacious woman never loses her sense of self.  

Inspired by a 112-year-old woman the author discovered in an 1870 U.S. Federal census report for Ohio, loosely based on the author’s real-life female ancestors, spanning more than a hundred years, from the mid-eighteen-century to the end of America’s Civil War, and spanning across the globe, from what is now southern Nigeria to the islands of the Caribbean to North America and the land bordering the Ohio River, Things Past Telling is a breathtaking story of a past that lives on in all of us, and a life that encompasses the best—and worst—of our humanity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Mar 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063097100

Sheila Williams

Sheila Williams is the author of six books, including Things Past Telling, The Secret Women, and Dancing on the Edge of the Roof, the basis for the Netflix film Juanita. She is the librettist for the opera Fierce, commissioned by The Cincinnati Opera, with music by William Menefield, which premiered in July, 2022. She lives in northern Kentucky.

Reviews for Things Past Telling

[hobbitprincess · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting and sometimes hard to read story of Maryam, a woman captured in West Africa who, through a series of events, ends up a slave in Virginia during the American Revolution. The author bases her writing on true stories. It isn't all horrible - there are moments in the book that are uplifting and how just how strong Maryam was.

[LuciMcK · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Moving and heartwarming, unexpected and inspirational! Read this book and share it broadly!

[Willmann Anna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was an amazing story!!
I couldn't put it down!

[maryreinert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the life story of Maryam Grace, born Little Bird, in Africa but captured by slavers at the age of ten and brought. This is a brutal story of a strong woman who was influenced by many strong women along the way. Always having an ear for languages, Little Bird was able to save herself numerous times due to her ability to discern words. The Portuguese ship that captured her was itself overtaken by a pirate ship. The pirate leader recognizing that Little Bird was able to understand many of the African languages took her underwing and she became valuable to him. However, once in port, he was not able to protect her from a brutal rape that led to a pregnancy before the girl actually knew what was happening. Thanks to Marie Catherine, a midwife and healer Little Bird, now known as Maryam, survived the birth of a child who died. When Caesar was captured, Maryam was sold into slavery where she honed her midwifery and healing skills and became a valuable asset to the slave owners. Maryam eventually found a man who was kind and loving to her and she had two sons. The story begins in Africa and ends with Maryam as a very old woman in Ohio. There were a few times that the plot seemed a bit of a stretch, but the writing constantly drew me in and while some of the plot is so hard to read, the reality of life in the late 1700's becomes very clear - the treatment of women (especially girls), the horror of losing loved ones, the violence of slavery, and the deep ties between women helping each other. Loved the book. Would read more by this author.