Amity
from the Booker-longlisted author of The Sweetness of Water
-
- 6,49 €
Descrição da editora
The highly anticipated second novel from the author of the Booker-longlisted THE SWEETNESS OF WATER
'Amity is deeply adventurous and astonishingly beautiful' Robert Jones, Jr., author of The Prophets
'A writer of great lyricism and power' i paper
'Harris will win over the hearts of many readers' Financial Times
'Masterful' Oprah Winfrey
Louisiana, 1869. The Civil War might be over, but former slaves Coleman and June have yet to find the freedom they've been promised. Two years ago, the siblings were separated when their old master, Mr Harper, took June away on a hair-brained scheme to Mexico, to escape the new reality of the post-war South. Coleman stayed behind to serve the Harper family, clinging to the hope that Mr Harper would one day bring June back to him.
When an unexpected letter from Mr Harper arrives, summoning Coleman and the Harper family to Mexico, Coleman believes his prayers have been answered. But what he cannot know is the tangled truth of June's tribulations and Mr Harper's true intentions. As Coleman and June separately navigate a perilous, parched landscape to find their way back to each other, they learn quickly that freedom isn't always given - sometimes, it must be taken by force.
THE SWEETNESS OF WATER:
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, OPRAH BOOK CLUB PICK, AN OBAMA SUMMER READING SELECTION, SHORTLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE, LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The vivid sophomore novel from Harris (The Sweetness of Water) follows a formerly enslaved brother and sister in the tumultuous aftermath of the Civil War. June has done her best to protect her dreamy, bookish younger brother, Coleman, from the Harper family, who enslaved them in Baton Rouge before fleeing the estate during the battle for New Orleans. Now, in 1866, without any options, the two continue working for the Harpers in exchange for room and board. Mr. Harper hopes to make a killing in a Mexican silver mine, and after he takes June west, Coleman follows with Mrs. Harper and her strident daughter Florence. In Mexico, June falls in love with charismatic Black Seminole Isaac, flees Mr. Harper, and finds her way to the Black community of Amity. Coleman, meanwhile, endures a shipwreck, a kidnapping, and imprisonment by a Mexican general, who then enlists him to find Mr. Harper. All the while, Coleman hopes against hope that he will find June. Much of the novel is narrated by Coleman, whose sly humor and sharp observations cut others down to size (Mrs. Harper's "exaggeratedly robust" hoop skirt makes her look "as though she were seated in an upturned soup bowl"), and the well-developed plot generates strong suspense. It's an indelible slice of postbellum border history.
