cover image Through It All: Reflections on My Life, My Family, and My Faith

Through It All: Reflections on My Life, My Family, and My Faith

Christine King Farris. Atria Books, $25 (257pp) ISBN 978-1-4165-4881-2

In this memoir, the sister of Martin Luther King Jr. offers a look into her family, providing a remarkable perspective on the beloved civil rights leader. The history of Farris's family finds a people deeply committed to religious faith and the betterment of their community, steeped in generations of service to others. Taking readers through her experience of the Civil Rights movement, Farris's chronicle is generally absorbing, especially the material about MLK himself, but the overall experience is a disjointed one; Farris can be prone to tangents, repetition, and long lists of unimportant names. Still, the frequent digressions will not deter a readership eager to learn more about the life of Martin Luther King, and it's in stories about her brother that Farris's narrative shines. 39 b&w photos.