Award-winning
poet Jason Mott poses an interesting theory in his new book, “The Returned,”
one in which those who have passed reappear on earth. We’re not talking science
fiction here, but an intriguing tale that came to Mott contemplating the death
of his mother, his memory of her and a dream where she asked him why he hadn’t
married.
“That
dream stayed with me for months,” he writes in the book’s “Author’s Note,”
adding that he shared the experience with a friend. “Sometime later in our
lunch, as conversation was running low, my friend asked, ‘Can you imagine if
she actually did come back, just for one night? And what if it wasn’t just her?
What if it happened to other people, too’?”
“The
Returned” opens as Harold and Lucille Hargrave watch on TV the eerie returned
of those who have passed. These people suddenly appear, looking like the day
they passed away, some near their homes and some as far away as other
countries. While Lucille Hargrave watches and comments that it’s all the
devil’s work, a man arrives bringing the Hargrave’s only son, Jacob, who
drowned on his eighth birthday in 1966.
As
more and more people “return,” the government engages more control and chaos
ensues. Some people embrace the return of loved ones while others refuse to
accept them. In some instances, the returned only renew old pain, such as the
appearance of an elderly woman who died of a stroke and returns in senility.
While
we follow the unusual story of the Hargraves and their son, “The Returned”
offers many issues to ponder. If we could renew relationships, would we do them
differently? After grieving for years would we want to suddenly act like
nothing happened? Or is the idea of meeting past loved ones a desire we all
maintain?
“I
wanted it (‘The Returned’) to be a place where — through methods and magic
unknown even to me — the hard, uncaring rules of life and death do not exist
and people can be with those they loved once more,” the author writes in the
“Author’s Note.”
Kirkus
Reviews magazine has named Mott’s “The Returned” as one of the Best Fiction Books
of 2013. The annual list by the magazine also named to the list books by
Louisiana authors George Bishop, who penned “The Night of the Comet,” and James
Lee Burke, who continued his Dave Robicheaux series with “Light of the World.”
The
magazine said this of Bishop’s book, “Coming-of-age novels examine youthful
revelations about the world — filled with cynicism and wonder and rearranged
expectations — and the quality hinges on the honesty of the voice, the truth of
the observations, the handling of innocence lost; Bishop succeeds on all these
fronts.” Of Burke’s, they wrote, “Pruning away the florid subplots that often
clutter his heaven-storming blood baths, Burke produces his most sharply
focused, and perhaps his most harrowing study of human evil, refracted through
the conventions of the crime novel."
Pelican Publishing
Pelican
Publishing of New Orleans has recently released several new titles related to
Louisiana.
Journalist,
author and LSU fan Chet Hilburn has compiled his top favorite Death Valley
experiences in “Legendary Tiger Stadium: The 30 Greatest LSU Football Games.”
There’s the famous Halloween game against Ole Miss, the “earthquake game”
against Auburn that registered on a seismograph and the win against Florida
that resulted in a field of oranges as the fog rolled in. Not all of these
games are winners, but Hilburn chose the most memorable, win or lose.
“Historic
Baton Rouge Architecture” by Jim Fraiser, with photography by Pat Caldwell and
Fraiser offers a lovely overview of the historic treasures of the Capital City.
Areas include downtown, Spanish Town, Beauregard Town and the Garden District,
among others, plus ventures out to Baker, Port Allen and other neighboring
towns.
Kerri
McCaffety gives us a miniature glimpse inside the French Quarter, with 30 color
photographs and descriptive captions, inside a palm-sized book, in “Visions of
the Vieux Carré.” It’s a nice gift idea, images of the Quarter in a small
package.
André
Cajun (Andrew Jackson Navard of Lake Charles) captured the scandalous past of
New Orleans’s infamous Basin Street, along with illustrations by arists Zamb
(Wiley S. Churchill) in “Basin Street.” Pelican offers a reprint of the 1950s
book with a foreword providing historical context by Roger Hahn.
Milliken’s Bend
The
small but costly battle at Milliken’s Bend in Madison Parish involved America’s
first African American soldiers, who were mostly former slaves, was a key
segment in Grant’s Vicksburg campaign and included accusations that
Confederates executed prisoners, which contributed to the suspension of
prisoner exchanges between North and South. This small yet important fight
received some initial widespread attention but soon drifted into obscurity.
Linda
Barnickel reviews this controversial battle in “Milliken’s Bend: A Civil War
Battle in History and Memory,” published by LSU Press and winner of the 2013
Jules and Frances Landry Award for the “most outstanding achievement in the
field of southern studies” among books published by LSU Press in the year.
Barnickel
will be speaking about the battle and signing copies of her book at the
Nashville Civil War Roundtable at 7 p.m. Jan. 20, 2014. For more information on
her book and upcoming events, visit http://lsupress.org/books/detail/millikens-bend.
Cheré Coen is the
author of “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A
Historic Guide to Acadiana,” both from The History Press, and co-author of
“Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She
teaches writing at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at
cherecoen@gmail.com.
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