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A novel dramatizing the religious
fervour of a Mississippi hill man, Amos
Dudley, who as a boy attending a revival
meeting has a direct experience of God.
He lives out his life of ambition and success
in the shadow of this miraculous event.
The novel also dramatizes the shift
of productive farming from the Mississippi
hill country to the opening up of the Delta,
a swampy region only made available
for farming when the land is drained
and cleared and mosquitoes subdued.
As I grew up with a lot of local talk
and reminiscence related to this process,
I found a way to relate a good deal
of vivid local history to the characters
involved. As a well-established Delta
planter, married to a woman from the
planter society near the River, Amos
should have found the fulfillment
promised in the beginning. But events
involving his children interfere, and
the appearance of a mysterious stranger
he believes to be his son by a former
mistress casts an evil spell. How this
is dispersed and Amos reunited with
the hill-country roots he has spurned
in his pursuit of success make up the
dramatic development and conclusion
of his story.
This book was brought out in England
and very well reviewed. It has been
re-issued in 2001 by Louisiana State
University Press.
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