Wash
by Margaret Wrinkle
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Pub Date Feb 05 2013 | Archive Date Sep 18 2013
Grove/Atlantic, Inc. | Atlantic Monthly Press
Description
In this luminous debut, Margaret Wrinkle takes us on an unforgettable journey across continents and through time, from the burgeoning American South to West Africa and deep into the ancestral stories that reside in the soul. Wash introduces a remarkable new voice in American literature.
In early 1800s Tennessee, two men find themselves locked in an intimate power struggle. Richardson, a troubled Revolutionary War veteran, has spent his life fighting not only for his country but also for wealth and status. When the pressures of westward expansion and debt threaten to destroy everything he’s built, he sets Washington, a young man he owns, to work as his breeding sire. Wash, the first member of his family to be born into slavery, struggles to hold onto his only solace: the spirituality inherited from his shamanic mother. As he navigates the treacherous currents of his position, despair and disease lead him to a potent healer named Pallas. Their tender love unfolds against this turbulent backdrop while she inspires him to forge a new understanding of his heritage and his place in it. Once Richardson and Wash find themselves at a crossroads, all three lives are pushed to the brink.
In early 1800s Tennessee, two men find themselves locked in an intimate power struggle. Richardson, a troubled Revolutionary War veteran, has spent his life fighting not only for his country but also for wealth and status. When the pressures of westward expansion and debt threaten to destroy everything he’s built, he sets Washington, a young man he owns, to work as his breeding sire. Wash, the first member of his family to be born into slavery, struggles to hold onto his only solace: the spirituality inherited from his shamanic mother. As he navigates the treacherous currents of his position, despair and disease lead him to a potent healer named Pallas. Their tender love unfolds against this turbulent backdrop while she inspires him to forge a new understanding of his heritage and his place in it. Once Richardson and Wash find themselves at a crossroads, all three lives are pushed to the brink.
Advance Praise
“Boldly conceived and brilliantly written, Margaret Wrinkle’s Washreveals the horrible human predation of slavery and its nest of nightmares. With a truthfulness even beyond Faulkner, Wrinkle makes her novelistic debut in a monumental work of unflinching imagination. Impressive, first-rate? These terms are too tame to describe this magnificent work of literature.” —Sena Jeter Naslund, author ofAhab’s Wife
“This majestic, beautifully written novel will both break your heart and make it wiser; and when you have turned the last page you will want to tell everyone you know to go out and buy it.” —Charles Gaines, author of A Family Place
“This exquisite novel is a gift of healing. It exposes the dark and fearsome sin that stains our history, and confronts the guilt that lurks in our collective American soul. But in the genius of the telling we are led to the tenderness at the bone, the humanity at the core, and buoyed by joy.” —Beverly Swerling, author of City of God
“A unique and powerful story, Wash tells a chapter of our past that we would rather look away from. Margaret Wrinkle makes sure that we cannot. Her whole life has led up to this book, and she writes it in a sure and captivating voice, augmented by her remarkable pictures.” —Kevin Baker, author of Strivers Row
“Margaret Wrinkle’s Wash is a marvelous window into the world of nineteenth-century American slavery—a powerful fusion of knowledge and imagination.” —Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls’ Rising
“A significant and hugely troublesome book.” —Pinckney Benedict, author of Dogs of God
“This majestic, beautifully written novel will both break your heart and make it wiser; and when you have turned the last page you will want to tell everyone you know to go out and buy it.” —Charles Gaines, author of A Family Place
“This exquisite novel is a gift of healing. It exposes the dark and fearsome sin that stains our history, and confronts the guilt that lurks in our collective American soul. But in the genius of the telling we are led to the tenderness at the bone, the humanity at the core, and buoyed by joy.” —Beverly Swerling, author of City of God
“A unique and powerful story, Wash tells a chapter of our past that we would rather look away from. Margaret Wrinkle makes sure that we cannot. Her whole life has led up to this book, and she writes it in a sure and captivating voice, augmented by her remarkable pictures.” —Kevin Baker, author of Strivers Row
“Margaret Wrinkle’s Wash is a marvelous window into the world of nineteenth-century American slavery—a powerful fusion of knowledge and imagination.” —Madison Smartt Bell, author of All Souls’ Rising
“A significant and hugely troublesome book.” —Pinckney Benedict, author of Dogs of God
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9780802120663 |
| PRICE | $25.00 (USD) |
