Legacy Through Story: Bibliotherapy Reflections on The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad

I just finished reading our bookclub pick for the month of May, The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad, and I am breathless.

It’s rare that a work of dystopian fiction offers such profound emotional closure. It’s even rarer especially when the protagonist remains tethered to a life not of her choosing. But Solenne’s journey is not just a story of survival with the best outcome in mind. Her story is a meditation on ancestral memory, embodied grief, and the revolutionary act of storytelling.

“I remembered who I was. I am Henriette’s descendant.”

Set in an alternate America where an algorithm determines the fate of Black women, Solenne finds herself stripped of autonomy and trapped in a psychologically and emotionally abusive relationship with a powerful government official. Her only refuge is writing. Specifically, the act of documenting the life of her ancestor Henriette, a concubine in 1800s Louisiana. As Solenne gives voice to Henriette, something within her begins to shift. She starts to imagine what freedom feels like, even if it’s not yet tangible. Her emotional journey and therefore her awareness growth as she came of age was written so powerfully!

As a bibliotherapist, I often teach my students and clients about the four stages of the bibliotherapeutic process: recognition, examination, juxtaposition, and application. In The Blueprint, Solenne recognizes herself in Henriette. She examines her pain, her conditioning, her longings. She juxtaposes their lives—centuries apart, yet eerily parallel. And ultimately, she applies her growing awareness by writing, by refusing silence, by choosing a different legacy.

“Darkness always leaves a side door open. That’s what I would tell my daughter. Be loud.”

This quote, both piercing and unforgettable, left me reminiscing on the courage that motherhood births in us. Solenne’s refusal to be quiet, even in a system designed to erase her, mirrors the generational strength Black women have carried for centuries.

What makes The Blueprint such an important book in both dystopian and historical fiction is how it masterfully fuses both genres. Rashad writes in her author’s note that she was inspired by books like Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (to deconstruct the strong Black woman archetype), The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (to imagine a dystopia rooted in systemic misogyny), and The Book of Night Women by Marlon James (for its raw, unflinching honesty). And yet, The Blueprint stands on its own as a searing literary testimony.

This novel reminds me that freedom doesn’t always look like escape. Sometimes, it looks like truth-telling. Like writing. Like whispering to your future daughter through the act of remembering those who came before.

Bibliotherapy Insight:
If you are someone navigating generational grief, loss of agency, or struggling to define your own voice in oppressive systems, The Blueprint may offer a powerful mirror. Solenne’s story encourages us to write ourselves out of silence, to unearth the wisdom of our foremothers, and to imagine freedom in whatever form we can hold.

I may have closed the book—but Solenne and Henriette are still with me.

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