The Snake in the Garden
Innocent young Black men jailed by a racist judge. Jim Crow trauma that still haunts. Can two women on opposite sides of the color divide unite to seek justice?
Pop singer Regina Day, exiled at sixteen from her hometown in Arkansas, has learned to fit in with the white celebrity world of Los Angeles. But memories of her Jim Crow childhood still plague her. Does she dare go back for her mother’s funeral?
Karen Whittier has worked for her father, the town’s racist judge, for twenty-five years. She longs for a true father-daughter bond, but in his eyes, she can do no right. She fills her barren life with chocolate and English romance novels. Can she muster the courage to defy him?
In 1963, when the girls were teenagers, Jim Crow laws prevailed in Jefferson Springs, Arkansas. Whites and Blacks were kept apart, and intimate relationships between them were illegal. Young Black men could be jailed for merely looking at a white girl, and lynching happened far too often. Then, on the night of President Kennedy's assassination, all hell broke loose in the town, and Regina and Karen were embroiled in a tragedy that changed the course of their lives. Thirty years later, can they overcome the trauma of that night and unite to seek justice, and find answers to long-hidden family secrets?
The Snake in the Garden is a collaboration between two women – one Black, one white -- that delves into the minds of both Black and white characters. The result is an explosive depiction of racism in twentieth-century America through the lens of four generations of interracial relationships. Set in different decades throughout the last century, it's a story that still resonates in our time. Filled with historical detail, it’s a powerful tale of transcendence over the scars of the past and offers hope that the “snake” of racism can one day be cast out of the garden.
Reading The Snake in the Garden will leave you with a better understanding of how the poison of racism affects us all. But be warned! This book will cause you to look deep into your own heart to examine your feelings about race and justice in our society today.
Innocent young Black men jailed by a racist judge. Jim Crow trauma that still haunts. Can two women on opposite sides of the color divide unite to seek justice?
Pop singer Regina Day, exiled at sixteen from her hometown in Arkansas, has learned to fit in with the white celebrity world of Los Angeles. But memories of her Jim Crow childhood still plague her. Does she dare go back for her mother’s funeral?
Karen Whittier has worked for her father, the town’s racist judge, for twenty-five years. She longs for a true father-daughter bond, but in his eyes, she can do no right. She fills her barren life with chocolate and English romance novels. Can she muster the courage to defy him?
In 1963, when the girls were teenagers, Jim Crow laws prevailed in Jefferson Springs, Arkansas. Whites and Blacks were kept apart, and intimate relationships between them were illegal. Young Black men could be jailed for merely looking at a white girl, and lynching happened far too often. Then, on the night of President Kennedy's assassination, all hell broke loose in the town, and Regina and Karen were embroiled in a tragedy that changed the course of their lives. Thirty years later, can they overcome the trauma of that night and unite to seek justice, and find answers to long-hidden family secrets?
The Snake in the Garden is a collaboration between two women – one Black, one white -- that delves into the minds of both Black and white characters. The result is an explosive depiction of racism in twentieth-century America through the lens of four generations of interracial relationships. Set in different decades throughout the last century, it's a story that still resonates in our time. Filled with historical detail, it’s a powerful tale of transcendence over the scars of the past and offers hope that the “snake” of racism can one day be cast out of the garden.
Reading The Snake in the Garden will leave you with a better understanding of how the poison of racism affects us all. But be warned! This book will cause you to look deep into your own heart to examine your feelings about race and justice in our society today.
Innocent young Black men jailed by a racist judge. Jim Crow trauma that still haunts. Can two women on opposite sides of the color divide unite to seek justice?
Pop singer Regina Day, exiled at sixteen from her hometown in Arkansas, has learned to fit in with the white celebrity world of Los Angeles. But memories of her Jim Crow childhood still plague her. Does she dare go back for her mother’s funeral?
Karen Whittier has worked for her father, the town’s racist judge, for twenty-five years. She longs for a true father-daughter bond, but in his eyes, she can do no right. She fills her barren life with chocolate and English romance novels. Can she muster the courage to defy him?
In 1963, when the girls were teenagers, Jim Crow laws prevailed in Jefferson Springs, Arkansas. Whites and Blacks were kept apart, and intimate relationships between them were illegal. Young Black men could be jailed for merely looking at a white girl, and lynching happened far too often. Then, on the night of President Kennedy's assassination, all hell broke loose in the town, and Regina and Karen were embroiled in a tragedy that changed the course of their lives. Thirty years later, can they overcome the trauma of that night and unite to seek justice, and find answers to long-hidden family secrets?
The Snake in the Garden is a collaboration between two women – one Black, one white -- that delves into the minds of both Black and white characters. The result is an explosive depiction of racism in twentieth-century America through the lens of four generations of interracial relationships. Set in different decades throughout the last century, it's a story that still resonates in our time. Filled with historical detail, it’s a powerful tale of transcendence over the scars of the past and offers hope that the “snake” of racism can one day be cast out of the garden.
Reading The Snake in the Garden will leave you with a better understanding of how the poison of racism affects us all. But be warned! This book will cause you to look deep into your own heart to examine your feelings about race and justice in our society today.
Publication Date: May 7, 2021
ISBN-10 : 1736516515
ISBN-13 : 978-1736516515
Author: Deborah Hand-Cutler (Author), Brenda Sutton Turner (Author)
Publisher: Black Horse Press
Pages: 279
