The Known World by Edward P. Jones

From National Book Award-nominated author Edward P. Jones comes a debut novel of stunning emotional depth and unequaled literary power Henry Townsend, a farmer, boot maker, and former slave, through the surprising twists and unforeseen turns of life in antebellum Virginia, becomes proprietor of his own plantation-as well his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart at their plantation: slaves take to escaping under the cover of night, and families who had once found love under the weight of slavery begin to betray one another. Beyond the Townsend household, the known world also unravels: low-paid white patrollers stand watch as slave speculators sell free black people into slavery, and rumors of slave rebellions set white families against slaves who have served them for years. An ambitious, courageous, luminously written masterwork, The Known World seamlessly weaves the lives of the freed and the enslaved-and allows all of us a deeper understanding of the enduring multidimensional world created by the institution of slavery. The Known World not only marks the return of an extraordinarily gifted writer, it heralds the publication of a remarkable contribution to the canon of American classic literature. Editorial Reviews Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy. - The New Yorker A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon. - Time Breathtaking....A fascinating counterweight to Toni Morrison's Beloved....It is essential reading. - Entertainment Weekly An exemplar of historical fiction. . . [it] will subdue your preconceptions, enrich your perceptions and trouble your sleep.. . .The way Jones tells this story. . .recalls Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. - Newsday An exemplar of historical fiction. . . [it] will subdue your preconceptions, enrich your perceptions and trouble your sleep.. . .The way Jones tells this story. . .recalls Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. - Starred Library Journal Astonishingly rich. . .The particulars and consequences of the 'right' of humans to own other humans are dramatized with unprecedented ingenuity and intensity, in a harrowing tale that scarcely ever raises its voice. . . . It should be a major prize contender. - Kirkus Reviews (starred) A stunning debut novel. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution Fascinating...poignant....[A] complex and fine novel. - Baltimore Sun A strong, intricate, daring book by a writer of deep compassion and uncommon gifts. - Peter Matthiessen Stunning....His first novel is...likely to win acclaim. - New York Times If Jones. . .keeps up this level of work, he'll equal the best fiction Toni Morrison has written about being black in America. - Speakeasy One of those rare works of fiction that both wound and heal. - O Magazine 'The Known World' is a great novel, one that may eventually be placed with the best of American Literature. - San Diego Union-Tribune Heartbreaking....fascinating. - Newsweek Brilliant....Glorious....[The Known World] belongs on the shelf with other classics of slavery, like Toni Morrison's Beloved. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution Fascinating . . .There is grief and fear, genuine affection an envy in this complex and fine novel. - Philadelphia Inquirer A major achievement. - Time Out New York Extraordinary.....Nothing...quite prepares readers for the imaginative leaps and technical prowess of 'The Known World.' - Seattle Times A profoundly beautiful and insightful look at American slavery and human nature. - Booklist (starred) Vivid....[An] epic novel. - Book Magazine Beautifully written . . .[it] ought to enjoy the massive readership that Charles Frazier's runaway hit, Cold Mountain did. - USA Today Brilliant...Jones' novel movingly evokes one small landscape of a larger map that so stubbornly yields up its truths today - St. Louis Post-Dispatch Stunning....Pitch-perfect....Too much cannot be said about Mr. Jones gifts as a storyteller and a stylist. - The Washington Times Once you start the book you are hooked....Consider this novel necessary reading. - Fort Worth Star-Telegram This...magical novel will touch you in a profound way. - People (4-Starred Critic's Choice) Complex, beautifully written, and breathtaking...the book will knock the wind out of you with the depth of its compassion. - QBR: The Black Book Review Heartrending....[The Known World] walks with the pace and solemnity of the Bible. - Dallas Morning News [A] powerful, multigenerational saga. - Chicago Tribune Books Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy. - The New Yorker An incredible saga. - Essence Destined for a permanent spot on the...shelf of great American novels about slavery, next to Morrison...and Faulkner. - Boston Globe A grand and inspired work of historical fiction. . .[It] deserves every word of praise that comes its way. - Chicago Tribune Books A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon. - Time magazine - From the Publisher Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy. - The New Yorker A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon. - Time Stunning....His first novel is...likely to win acclaim. - New York Times A stunning debut novel. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution A strong, intricate, daring book by a writer of deep compassion and uncommon gifts. - Peter Matthiessen Breathtaking....A fascinating counterweight to Toni Morrison's Beloved....It is essential reading. - Entertainment Weekly An exemplar of historical fiction. . . [it] will subdue your preconceptions, enrich your perceptions and trouble your sleep.. . .The way Jones tells this story. . .recalls Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. - Newsday Fascinating...poignant....[A] complex and fine novel. - Baltimore Sun Jones has written a book of tremendous moral intricacy. - The New Yorker If Jones. . .keeps up this level of work, he'll equal the best fiction Toni Morrison has written about being black in America. - Speakeasy 'The Known World' is a great novel, one that may eventually be placed with the best of American Literature. - San Diego Union-Tribune Complex, beautifully written, and breathtaking...the book will knock the wind out of you with the depth of its compassion. - QBR: The Black Book Review Heartbreaking....fascinating. - Newsweek A major achievement. - Time Out New York Beautifully written . . .[it] ought to enjoy the massive readership that Charles Frazier's runaway hit, Cold Mountain did. - USA Today Extraordinary.....Nothing...quite prepares readers for the imaginative leaps and technical prowess of 'The Known World.' - Seattle Times This...magical novel will touch you in a profound way. - People (4-Starred Critic's Choice) Stunning....Pitch-perfect....Too much cannot be said about Mr. Jones gifts as a storyteller and a stylist. - The Washington Times An incredible saga. - Essence One of those rare works of fiction that both wound and heal. - O Magazine Fascinating . . .There is grief and fear, genuine affection an envy in this complex and fine novel. - Philadelphia Inquirer [A] powerful, multigenerational saga. - Chicago Tribune Books Brilliant...Jones' novel movingly evokes one small landscape of a larger map that so stubbornly yields up its truths today - St. Louis Post-Dispatch A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon. - Time magazine Vivid....[An] epic novel. - Book Magazine Heartrending....[The Known World] walks with the pace and solemnity of the Bible. - Dallas Morning News A profoundly beautiful and insightful look at American slavery and human nature. - Booklist (starred) Destined for a permanent spot on the...shelf of great American novels about slavery, next to Morrison...and Faulkner. - Boston Globe Once you start the book you are hooked....Consider this novel necessary reading. - Fort Worth Star-Telegram Complex, beautifully written, and breathtaking...the book will knock the wind out of you with the depth of its compassion. - QBR: The Black Book Review Complex, beautifully written, and breathtaking...the book will knock the wind out of you with the depth of its compassion. - QBR-The Black Book Review The bizarre world of American slavery has been the subject of much fiction, some of it uncommonly good, from Harriet Beecher Stowe to William Faulkner to Toni Morrison. This extraordinary novel -- the best new work of American fiction to cross my desk in years -- takes as its subject one of the most peculiar anomalies of that endlessly provocative and troubling subject: In the antebellum South, where whites systematically enslaved blacks, there were free blacks who themselves owned black slaves. - Jonathan Yardley - The Washington Post At the end of Edward P. Jones's stunning new antebellum novel, an artist recreates the book's plantation setting as a map of life made with every kind of life man has ever thought to represent himself. One of the characters says, It is what God sees when He looks down. The author's viewpoint has the same effect in this book about slavery, property, freedom and family, all in a most unusual setting. With hard-won wisdom and hugely effective understatement, Mr. Jones explores the unsettling, contradiction-prone world of a Virginia slaveholder who happens to be black. - Janet Maslin - The New York Times In a crabbed, powerful follow-up to his National Book Award-nominated short story collection (Lost in the City), Jones explores an oft-neglected chapter of American history, the world of blacks who owned blacks in the antebellum South. His fictional examination of this unusual phenomenon starts with the dying 31-year-old Henry Townsend, a former slave-now master of 33 slaves of his own and more than 50 acres of land in Manchester County, Va.-worried about the fate of his holdings upon his early death. As a slave in his youth, Henry makes himself indispensable to his master, William Robbins. Even after Henry's parents purchase the family's freedom, Henry retains his allegiance to Robbins, who patronizes him when he sets up shop as a shoemaker and helps him buy his first slaves and his plantation. Jones's thorough knowledge of the legal and social intricacies of slaveholding allows him to paint a complex, often startling picture of life in the region. His richest characterizations-of Robbins and Henry-are particularly revealing. Though he is a cruel master to his slaves, Robbins is desperately in love with a black woman and feels as much fondness for Henry as for his own children; Henry, meanwhile, reads Milton, but beats his slaves as readily as Robbins does. Henry's wife, Caldonia, is not as disciplined as her husband, and when he dies, his worst fears are realized: the plantation falls into chaos. Jones's prose can be rather static and his phrasings ponderous, but his narrative achieves crushing momentum through sheer accumulation of detail, unusual historical insight and generous character writing. Agent, Eric Simonoff. (Sept.) Forecast: This is a new tack for Jones, whose collection Lost in the City was set in Washington, D.C., in the 1960s and '70s. Amistad is sending the novel off with a bang-a 10-city author tour, a 20-city national radio campaign-and it should attract considerable review attention. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. - Publishers Weekly This ambitious first novel by National Book Award nominee Jones (Lost in the City: Stories) looks at slavery from an unusual angle. Henry Townsend is a former slave who was purchased and freed by his own father. Through hard work, he has acquired 50 acres of farmland in Virginia. Given the slave-based agricultural economy, Townsend believes that the logical (and legal) way to work the land is with slaves, and, eventually, he owns more than 30. Although he is less brutal than his neighbors, most of his slaves dream of escaping north. When they try, Townsend must pay the white patrollers to return them or be seen as irresponsible. But as rumors of bloody slave rebellions spread through the South, unscrupulous bounty hunters begin to round up free blacks, Native Americans, and white orphans along with the escapees. By focusing on an African American slaveholder, Jones forcefully demonstrates how institutionalized slavery jeopardized all levels of civilized society so that no one was really free. A fascinating look at a painful theme, this book is an ideal choice for book clubs. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/03.]-Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. - Library Journal Slave-owning by free blacks in antebellum America is the astonishingly rich subject of this impressively researched, challenging novel debut by Faulkner Award-winning Jones (stories: Lost in the City, 1992). Set mostly in the period 1830-50, many nested and interrelated stories revolve around the death of black Virginia farmer and slaveholder Henry Townsend, himself a former slave who had purchased his own freedom, as was-and did-his father Augustus, a gifted woodcarver. Jones's flexible narrative moves from the travail of Augustus and his wife Mildred through Henry's conflicted life as both servant and master, to survey as well the lives of Armstrong slaves, from their early years on to many decades after Henry's passing. The first hundred pages are daunting, as the reader struggles to sort out initially quickly glimpsed characters and absorb Jones's handling of historical background information (which virtually never feels obtrusive or oppressive, thanks to his eloquent prose and palpable high seriousness). The story steadily gathers overpowering momentum, as we learn more about such vibrant figures as Henry's introspective spouse Caldonia, his wily overseer Moses, the long-suffering mutilated slave Elias and his crippled wife Celeste, the brutal patrollers charged with hunting down runaways (one of whom, duplicitous Harvey Travis, is a villain for the ages), and county sheriff John Skiffington, a decent man who nevertheless cannot shrug off responsibilities with which his culture has provisioned, and burdened, him. The particulars and consequences of the right of humans to own other humans are dramatized with unprecedented ingenuity and intensity, in a harrowing tale thatscarcely ever raises its voice-even during a prolonged climax when two searches produce bitter results and presage the vanishing of a known world unable to isolate itself from the shaping power of time and change. This will mean a great deal to a great many people. It should be a major prize contender, and it won't be forgotten. Author tour. Agent: Eric Simonoff/Janklow & Nesbit - Kirkus Reviews An incredible saga. - Essence Heartbreaking....fascinating. - Newsweek Beautifully written . . .[it] ought to enjoy the massive readership that Charles Frazier's runaway hit, Cold Mountain did. - USA Today Brilliant....Glorious....[The Known World] belongs on the shelf with other classics of slavery, like Toni Morrison's Beloved. - Atlanta Journal-Constitution A masterpiece that deserves a place in the American literary canon. - Time