"House of Rougeaux" is a terrific family saga by the award-winning author and illustrator Jenny Jaeckel. Unlikely many family sagas, this one jumps back and forth through various generations and will come full circle in the final chapter.

This charming written historical novel begins in the 1700s on the Caribbean Island of Martinique with Abeje, a young female slave who passes excellent healing power, and her brother Adunbi. Although Abeje never had children of her own, her brother did. After his wife died, his daughter Hettie had to be fostered at a different plantation. When Adunbi had the chance o finally visit his daughter, he discovered that she and her Forster monster had been sold off. But fate always finds a way, and Adunbi was able to find and finally meet Hetty when she was ten years old before she went to Montreal, Canada. There Hetty met a dire black man called Dax Rougeaux, who has bought her into freedom. This is the very beginning of the Rougeaux family saga.

From this point on, the story jumps from various generations to another, for example, to Nellie and Azzie, cousins of Hettie's great-great-grandchildren in Philadelphia, to Martine, a great-granddaughter of Hettie, who stayed in Montreal. Then to Hetty and her son as well as his daughter Eleonora called Nora.

As I already mentioned, Jaeckel has the gift of writing a beautiful story with a fantastic world and character building. However, sometimes it was hard to follow how which character is related to Hettie and why their story is essential. I couldn't connect with Nellie or Azzie since their storyline seemed unnecessary and even a bit boring. However, the themes mentioned in these parts were beautifully executed.
Another issue I had was the story of Hettie's son Guillaume and his storyline. I rather enjoyed his character and his battle with his internalised homophobia. However, I believe that the reaction of his sister Josie was a bit odd. Although his sister has the same gift as their grandaunt, and she is a very open-minded person, I found her take on her brother's queerness too modern and a bit out of place since this took place in the late 1800s. I have caught myself often wondering how unrealistic her reaction was.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed reading "House of Rougeaux" and loved the touch of magic realism and the strong family bond, which is the real magic throughout this whole novel. The unconditional love of the characters to one another was genuinely delightful and quite fascinating.

One of my favourite things about this book was the discussion of heavy themes like grief and racism. Jaeckel did a wonderful job to bring these themes into the story without making the story too glumly and still keeping an eye out for realism.

Overall, I would recommend this book to read a solid family saga with beautiful writing and world-building. Sadly, sometimes the plot seems all other the place mainly in the middle of the novel, so the rating is this "low". However, the beginning of the story, as well as the end, was truly magical.
I am looking forward to reading more books by Jenny Jaeckel and her delightful writing.

Thank you to Jenny Jaeckel for a review copy of this book in return for an honest review!

TW: Death, Grief, Childbirth, Pregnancy, Racism, Classism, Slavery, Sexism, Lupus, Internalised Homophobia, Implied Sex