Visible Spirits - Readings

Description

A beautifully written and gripping historical novel that unravels one of the darkest moments in America's past. This novel is set in Mississippi during the 1900s and tells of two brothers, Leighton and Tandy Payne, and the haunting legacy of their tough planter father Sam. Leighton, the eldest, sold the old plantation as soon as his father died and moved to the nearby town of Loring. A good and well-respected man, he's Loring's mayor and editor of the local paper. As the story opens his brother, Tandy, rolls back into town after being run out of New Orleans. Relations between the two are more than difficult, for though Leighton feels contempt for Tandy, he also fears him. Quite rightly, for Tandy's smallest actions seem to unleash the repressed hysteria and violence of the deep South during Reconstruction. His immediate target is the black postmistress, a woman who grew up on his father's plantation. As the plot unfolds it simultaneously looks to the past, slowly unravelling the dark mystery at the heart of old Sam Payne's plantation. The characters are warmly and finely delineated, and the plot, though complex, is utterly enthralling and compelling.

About the Author

Born in Indianola, Mississippi, he received his B.A. and M.A. in English from the University of Mississippi and his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas. Writing largely within the Southern tradition, he draws his themes and characters from Southern history and mores in ways that have been compared to Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner, and Willie Morris.Yarbrough's major works include the novels The End of California (2006), Prisoners of War (2004), Visible Spirits (2001) and The Oxygen Man (1999), as well as short story collections such as Family Men (1990), Mississippi History (1994) and Veneer (1998). His latest novel, Safe from the Neighbors, was published by Knopf in 2010.His honors include the Mississippi Authors Award, the California Book Award, and an award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. His novel, Prisoners of War, was a finalist for the 2005 PEN/Faulkner award. His work has been translated into Dutch, Japanese and Polish and published in the United Kingdom.A professor of creative writing for many years at California State University, Fresno, Yarbrough recently joined the faculty in the Department of Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College in Boston.He is married to the Polish literary translator Ewa Hryniewicz-Yarbrough and they have two daughters, Tosha and Lena. He lives in Stoneham, Massachusetts.

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