Synopsis
When Waties Waring left his wife of 30 years for a “Yankee spitfire” he dropped a turd in the local teacup. Charleston (S.C.) society banished him forever. He, in turn, became the first federal judge in U.S. history to rule that separate but equal is not equal, the hallmark of civil rights in America. Yet his opinion only marked the start of another little war in Charleston, reducing historical impact to an act of revenge. No footnotes survive the judge or his feud with his former society. He is remembered in polite circles there as vindictive and not as a heartfelt liberal.
Robert Wintner’s tale begins at Judge Waties Waring’s funeral, the day Arthur Covingdale, an up-and-coming attorney, must come to terms with his own vengeful role as a stalwart of the Old South. Mr. Covingdale burned a cross at the judge’s house and threw a brick through his window back in ’52. His contrition at the funeral in ’68 marks his first step out from town to the barrier sea islands, as he agrees to drive Jim Cohen home to the marshlands. So begins his journey of redemption.
Or maybe he’s led by the nose, as Jim Cohen, with a fisherman’s patience, dangles his niece, recently single and returned from Guadeloupe, as bait. Jim Cohen and his niece derive from slave stock. The narrator, Covingdale, is a blueblood, landed gentry, hoi paloi. Just as two rivers converge to form Charleston Harbor, so too the bloodlines flow from humble tributaries, from doilies and lace, mudflats and slavery, to their current mix. Within that mix, Arthur Covingdale faces the contradictions in his life and discovers what is of real value.
Review
I rarely rate books this low, but there is something about this book that did not engage me as a reader and I found myself skimming large chunks of the text. I think this could have been an outstanding story based on the premise, but it fell flat for me. I felt like the author was going for literary fiction with his wordy prose but it left me wondering if the book was written for his own enjoyment or for the readers.
This book may appeal to another type of reader, it just didn’t work for me.
I would give it 2 1/2 paws
Chronicling a wide cross-section of the human condition, William P. Barrett has worked as an award-winning journalist across the country and abroad for major newspapers and national magazines dating back more than four decades. At various times he’s been a police reporter, court reporter, local government reporter, feature writer, foreign correspondent, national correspondent writing about very small places with very big problems, investigative reporter and business reporter. Barrett’s longest stretch was at Forbes, where his writings illuminated dark sections of the financial world and sent miscreants to prison. A New Jersey native, Barrett holds two degrees from Rutgers, one in law, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charter holder. On the weekends he has refereed youth soccer in the West, including Southern California, for 17 years. Barrett now lives in Seattle. This is his debut novel.
