Red River

The 1873 Colfax Riot in Louisiana is the focal point of Tademy's absorbing story of two emancipated slave families. That the author is descended from the people depicted lends an authenticity that few historical novels enjoy. Reader Bahni Turpin's soft bayou-country drawl smoothly handles the transitions of this absorbing chronicle. Her deft touch for voices and accents adroitly guides listeners among characters of differing ages, races, and genders. She demonstrates a dramatic range that is equal to the narrative's graphic accounts of battle as well as to its subtle personal scenes. The only distraction from an otherwise enjoyable audio experience is that the discs end abruptly, with no auditory cues. M.O.B. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Starred review from December 18, 2006
Four generations of African-American Southerners claw their way up from the ruins of Reconstruction in this engrossing family saga by the author of the bestselling Cane River
. Tademy begins with a harrowing recreation of the notorious 1873 massacre at Colfax, La., where 150 blacks, gathered in defense of local Republican officials—and their own citizenship—were killed by white supremacists. Her narrative continues into the 1930s with a fictionalized chronicle of her forebears in the Tademy and Smith clans as they struggle against poverty, buy land and pursue their dream of starting a school for African-American children, their progress challenged by floods, hunting accidents and the Ku Klux Klan. It's an unabashed story of racial uplift (sample dialogue: " 'We getting old, and it up to us to move the race forward'"), but there's plenty of drama and grit to keep it from becoming cloying. Through her characters, the author paints an indelible portrait of rural life under Jim Crow, built around backbreaking farm labor, blood ties that bind and chafe, and the omnipresent fear of a capricious white racism that can undo in a moment the work of a lifetime. Combining family anecdotes with historical research and a rich imagination, Tademy crafts another American epic. Photos.

Tademy once again mixes family history, fiction, and fact in this story of the 1872 Reconstruction riot in Colfax, Virgina. As the story opens, Lucy, a centenarian, looks back on "the scary time." Her voice is portrayed by Gammy Singer with rhythmic cadences as rich as gospel. The historic part of the novel focuses on Sam, one of a handful of black men determined to fight for his rights and the safety of his community. Tim Cain's voice is strong and deep as he recounts the horrifying details of the massacre of more than one hundred black men by white supremacists. Then he follows the families' struggles for betterment in succeeding generations. S.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine