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by Margaret Ehart
Tucked into the southwest corner of Georgia
lies a small chunk of heaven. As different from the rest of the
rural south as Tiffany's from Wal-Mart, these unspoiled acres hold
the Yankee-owned plantations, Gardens of Eden strewn with live oaks,
longleaf pines, magnolias, pecans, and cypresses, trimmed in Spanish
moss and carpeted with wiregrass. Discovered by titans of the Gilded
Age as the 19th Century closed, and bought up cheap ($8 an acre)
from planters and small farmers laid low by recurring recessions and
the boll weevil, the lands were transformed into great estates.
The attraction? An ideal winter climate and a small bird: the
bobwhite quail.
Quail hunting and collateral sport required a considerable labor
force. That force was provided by Southern whites, formerly share
croppers, and descendants of African slaves. The interdependence of
the three peoples-rich Yankees, crackers, and blacks, made a
witches' brew for a brand new culture. Nested in the affections and
resentments of these long, close associations live the haunting
characters of Crossing Bully Creek, Margaret Erhart's highly
literary Milkweed Prize novel. And what characters they are.
Erhart's style is evocative of both Faulkner and Hemingway. By
restraint and a slow revealing of secrets in scenes from Longbrow's
history over four decades, she creates a gripping story through
characters the reader sees lurking in the shadows of Longbrow's
ancient trees.
Erhart knows first hand the people and place of which she writes.
She has long spent winters on a plantation like her mythical
Longbrow, a part of her family heritage. Crossing Bully Creek is her
fourth novel, her earlier Old Love, Augusta Cotton and Unusual
Company having attracted considerable critical acclaim.
Reviewed by: Covey Rise |
(click to buy from Amazon.com)
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