the known world

i finished reading a book about a month or so ago called "the known world." i'm hoping that you all take some time and really seriously read this. the writing was superb; i was totally intrigued by historical, but fictional accounte. i don't think those are the best words to sell a book - but honestly, it's a must read. each charecter is so complex, that you'll be thinking in 9-10 directions ;) it's by edward p. jones. he won a pulitzer prize for this particular book and it's totally a prize read.

here's the synopsis:

Set in Manchester County, Virginia, 20 years before the Civil War began, Edward P. Jones's debut novel, The Known World, is a masterpiece of overlapping plot lines, time shifts, and heartbreaking details of life under slavery. Caldonia Townsend is an educated black slaveowner, the widow of a well-loved young farmer named Henry, whose parents had bought their own freedom, and then freed their son, only to watch him buy himself a slave as soon as he had saved enough money. Although a fair and gentle master by the standards of the day, Henry Townsend had learned from former master about the proper distance to keep from one's property. After his death, his slaves wonder if Caldonia will free them. When she fails to do so, but instead breaches the code that keeps them separate from her, a little piece of Manchester County begins to unravel. Impossible to rush through, The Known World is a complex, beautifully written novel with a large cast of characters, rewarding the patient reader with unexpected connections, some reaching into the present day. --Regina Marler

like i said, you must read this.

xo - get back to work!