Katy Simpson Smith
Auteur de The Story of Land and Sea
A propos de l'auteur
Œuvres de Katy Simpson Smith
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Date de naissance
- 1985-10-29
- Sexe
- female
- Nationalité
- USA
- Lieu de naissance
- Jackson, Mississippi, USA
- Lieux de résidence
- New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Études
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (PhD - History)
Bennington College (MFA - Writing Seminars)
Mount Holyoke College - Professions
- novelist
non-fiction author
Membres
Critiques
Prix et récompenses
Vous aimerez peut-être aussi
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 6
- Membres
- 424
- Popularité
- #57,554
- Évaluation
- 3.8
- Critiques
- 33
- ISBN
- 47
- Langues
- 1
Katy Simpson Smith wrote deftly of a time that was difficult, when our country was young, and recovering from the fight for the freedoms we enjoy today. But the story is not about that. It's about a young girl named Tabitha, whose father, John, is already grieving the loss of Tabitha's mother, Helen. When the young girl contracts yellow fever, he takes her out to sea, a sea her mother loved, and where he hopes to heal her.
The story then sets out on a different path, taking the reader back to Tabitha's mother's childhood revealing how she grew up under the careful, watchful eye of her father, Asa. Asa owns a plantation of pines worked by slaves, and makes his money from the harvesting of pine resin. On Helen's tenth birthday, he gives her a slave girl, Moll. Part of the novel centers on their relationship, one of give and take, push and pull, of justice, and injustice, and all the emotional complexities that made them love and resent one another.
Both John and Asa contend for not only the love of Helen, but eventually Tabitha. John was not the sort of man Asa expected his daughter to marry. He was a pirate, turned soldier, and he committed the ultimate sin of taking her to sea, away from Asa, and out from under his control. Then Tabitha comes along, and Asa, much like John, diverts his love to his granddaughter after Helen is gone.
This is a condensed story, not very long, abut it is rich in detail, and we are transported back to post-Colonial times with ease. As the story progresses the timelines intersect and Asa and John will be forced to contend with one another in a very different manner than in their recent past where the realization they are not that different, that they loved the same people equally comes to light.
And then there is Moll, desirous of her freedom, and the difficulty Asa perceives in this, which is really his own inability to simply let go. To let go of Helen, Tabitha, and even Moll.
Highly recommend to those who enjoy reading unique historical fiction!… (plus d'informations)