Vestina

About the Book

VESTINA, OR THE DEPERATE AND THE TRUE is a modern gothic set in Louisiana in the 1950´s. Although the novel is a portrait of the African American woman Vetina, it is narrataed by Swedish-Irish American Salvanus, also known as "Swede." The novel questions the nature of reality (is this a true story Salvanus is telling or his own fantasy?) and explores the various natural and supernatural relationships of love, passion, redemption and tension between Vestina, oddly the inheritor of The Plantation, Salvanus, who works for her, Staphana the Cat, Ovala, the Witch Gwyndolyn, Uncle Clawd, and Buddy Marsh to name but a few of the characters.

VESTINA, OR THE DESPERATE AND THE TRUE questions our assumptions about African American literature in particular and American literature in general. It satirizes the idea of the universal voice in literature, for any voice can be universal.

Excerpts have been published in Obsidian under the title "Vestina."

About the Author