Review:
"The gripping story of illicit love...in prose not easily forgotten...[A] lovely and captivating novel."
"Reginald Gibbons's first novel takes place in east Texas in 1910 during the time of white rule--not by law but by lynch mob. Amid the suffocating racism and fear, half-Choctaw, half-white Reuben Sweetbitter and Martha Clarke, a white woman, fall in love....Reuben and Martha's love is strong, but, dishearteningly, racism is stronger. Timely in the subject of interracial love, this authentic, richly detailed novel plumbs sacrifice, fear, and the loss of one's identity, bringing the anguish of the two young lovers to life. Highly recommended."
"Far more than a spellbinding love story...a novel wide and deep in its understanding.... An unforgettable story, a remarkable piece of work."
"I love this novel: it sings, it soars. Simultaneously deft and deep, it brings a lost world back to brilliant light."
"Surprising in every way...The novel's ending is as strong as its beginning--terrifying and beautiful, a true tour de force."
From the Back Cover:
Turn-of-the-century East Texas. A world that offers no home for Reuben Sweetbitter, a young half-Choctaw, half-white man. Left as a child to fend for himself after the death of his mother, he finds his uneasy way through the world, searching always for a place to belong. He has lost contact with his Choctaw heritage and yet can belong neither to the white world nor that of the blacks who give him shelter. He finds his way to the town of Three Rivers, where he falls in love with Martha Clarke, the young, headstrong daughter of a local lawyer. Their forbidden love is tested when they are forced to flee amid an explosive lynching climate.
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