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A Novel
by De'Shawn Charles Winslow
Guilt, shame, and suspicion swirl as a small community in upstate New York turns on itself in this moody, propulsive thriller, from the award-winning writer of In West Mills.
The year is 1982 and the people of Fervent-on-Hudson have begun to move on from a local double homicide that upended the once-quiet town. But when their former neighbors, James and Ella White, are proven innocent of the murders, released from prison, and sent back to Fervent, some people have cause for concern.
Sylvia Upshaw and her best friend, Lafayette "Fate" Jolly, are uneasy about the Whites' return. While the Whites were incarcerated, Sylvia revealed an explosive secret to the Whites' adopted son, Morgan, and during their trial, Fate's testimony hindered their case. James and Ella won't let the betrayal go unpunished. Sylvia and Fate quickly become victims of harassment from the Whites, and when another murder is committed on Fervent, the town is left to fend for themselves.
Intimate and chilling, The Fervent Whites examines how small communities with long-simmering tensions can be pushed to the limits of civility.
""Winslow gracefully weaves in story lines concerning lingering pushback over integration in the area and the recent arrest of a white supremacist serial killer. A stunning climax and rich atmosphere ensure this makes a major impression. It's a gut punch of a novel." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This work, tightly wound in the best sense, solidifies Winslow's reputation as a masterful storyteller." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Does anyone write about the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality with more honesty and intensity than De'Shawn Charles Winslow? The Fervent Whites is a story of murder and buried secrets and how tight-knit communities nurture grudges as wholly as they nurture hope. This is an endlessly entertaining novel." —Wiley Cash, author of When Ghosts Come Home
"Winslow writes small-town secrets and familial closeness with such a keen eye and deft hand; The Fervent Whites is an unsettling, propulsive, and cinematic thriller." —Claire Lombardo, New York Times bestselling author of The Most Fun We Ever Had
This information about The Fervent Whites was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
De'Shawn Charles Winslow is the author of In West Mills, a Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winner, an American Book Award recipient, a Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction winner, and a Los Angeles Times Book Award, Lambda Literary Award, and Publishing Triangle Award finalist. He was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
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