Daughter of My People

by James Kilgo

Book Overview

In this extraordinary, long-awaited debut novel, the acclaimed essayist James Kilgo has woven a richly textured and complex tale from the threads of actual events. Set in rural South Carolina in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 042517266X
• ISBN13: 9780425172667
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Length: 303 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A magnificent story of the South emerging from the ravages of the Civil War

I have long admired the late James Kilgo as a master of the essay. But this remarkable debut novel seems to be the capstone of his esteemed career. I read it with mounting interest, completely absorbed by his description and characterization, and, yes, wondering how anyone can write a novel as good as this one. Someone has said no one--not even the great William Faulkner--could have handled this material better. I could not agree more. The great difference, I might add, is the immensely readable--some have called it "antique"-- prose that Kilgo offers us, rather than a tangle of syntax in sentences that go on forever. I absolutely loved this novel and I so greatly lament the fact that Mr. Kilgo did not live to give us more. But we are fortunate that he gave us his elegant essays and this magnificent novel before his death. Surely anyone hoping to understand the shaky beginnings of the New South in the early twentieth century will long cherish this novel as one of the very best pieces of writing to depict that time and place from the pen of any Southern writer bar none. Surely this novel will take its place among those works of literature that are destined to endure.

Unraviling Passion

James Kilgro's electifing southern antique story, of a housemaid's intensifing relatioship with her white cousin in 1918. It tells us that they suffered socially as well as privatelyin the quest to explore love and intimacy in a era when it was forbidden. Moving away to escape the discust and terroismof the community only to find that when she returns married,the affair would only emerge to confront them both and theirfamilies of both races. It's hard to put down!

Kilgo turns a sad story into a wonderfully moving tale

Jim Kilgo did well with his poetry, but this novel surpasses all that he has done before. The vividly descriptive prose brings the story to life and evokes images that only someone totally familiar with the landscape and the people could manage. Readers are transported to that distant time when the memories of a brutal war were still fresh on the minds of many Southerners. A time when all the roads were filled with chokeing dust in dry weather, and life sucking mud in wet weather. The intense conflict between whites and blacks is eloquently portrayed by Kilgo, and the reader is forced to feel the anguish of a man torn between his duty to kith an kin, and the feelings of his heart. Bravo to Kilgo for tackling this difficult subject, but even more accolades are deserved for the eloquent way that it was done.

a heart stabbing love story, perfectly told

This is a gorgeously told story about possibly real people - simple people whose only complexity is their love, which defies properness. Kilgo's setting is so rich (and dear to me because it is my home and the home of "my people") I can actually see the shabbiness of the postwar southern landscape, and feel the invincible pride of the otherwise defeated southerners. Call me a sap, but I swooned over Hart's "poor man's Shakespeare" description of Jennie on page 159, and clutched my heart (and my Kleenex) when he said it was an honor to die for the woman he loved. This is a simple sweet tale, and was a complete joy to read. I suspect this book will be a great hit with southern women - we don't see many heroes like Hart Bonner around here anymore.