Song of the Shank

April 7, 2014
Allen (Rails Under My Back) spent nearly a decade researching and crafting this ambitious but unwieldy novel, based on the true story of “Blind Tom,” né Tom Wiggins, who was born a slave in mid-19th-century Georgia. In this retelling, Allen looks to illuminate Tom’s troubled legacy. A blind musical prodigy and so-called autistic savant, Tom played the piano for audiences around the world and was, as a child, the first black American to perform at the White House. “He infuses our best melodies and harmonies with a barbaric element,” Tom’s master claims. Both the conception and the underlying history behind this story will leave readers with a profound understanding of the inhumanity of slavery and 19th century racial attitudes. This is a dense and admirable book that invites an important excavation of the past, yet ultimately provides neither intimacy nor perspective. Agent: Cynthia Cannell, Cynthia Cannell Literary Agency.