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by Aaron Gwyn
A novel about the remarkable people living on the edge of freedom and slavery, All God's Children brings to life the paradoxes of the American frontier – a place of liberty and bondage, wild equality, and cruel injustice.
In 1827, Duncan Lammons, a disgraced young man from Kentucky, sets out to join the American army in the province of Texas, hoping that here he may live – and love – as he pleases. That same year, Cecelia, a young slave in Virginia, runs away for the first time.
Soon infamous for her escape attempts, Cecelia drifts through the reality of slavery – until she encounters frontiersman Sam Fisk, who rescues her from a slave auction in New Orleans.
In spite of her mistrust, Cecelia senses an opportunity for freedom, and travels with Sam to Texas, where he has a homestead. In this new territory, where the law is an instrument for the cruel and the wealthy, they begin an unlikely life together, unaware that their fates are intertwined with those of Sam's former army mates including Duncan Lammons, a friend – and others who harbor dangerous dreams of their own.
This novel will take its place among the great stories that recount the country's fight for freedom – one that makes us want to keep on with the struggle.
"Gwyn creates an overwhelmingly visceral and emotionally rich narrative amid Texas's complex path to statehood [ ... ] This is a masterpiece of western fiction in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and James Carlos Blake." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"It's always a pleasure to discover another superb writer who had not been on my radar [ ... ] Gwyn writes fresh, vigorous sentences, and many scenes pulse with tension, tenderness or both." —Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Readers will relish these unforgettable characters and this expansive view of Texas' wild ride to joining the Union." —Booklist
"Gwyn knows how to tell a story—he builds suspense wonderfully [ ... ] his excellent writing and gift for pacing make this an enjoyable historical novel." —Kirkus Reviews
"In his new book, Aaron Gwyn gives us a vivid and piercing depiction of America when it was young and expanding, and of the myriad cruelties and lies that it was built upon. All God's Children is a page-turner, a tour de force, and a brilliantly savage novel that you will be reckoning with long after you have put it down." —Nick Arvin, author of Mad Boy and Articles of War
"All God's Children is a riveting work of historical vision. Once again, Gwyn has crafted a tale that is as tragic as it is gorgeous." —Smith Henderson, PEN-Award winning author of Fourth of July Creek
This information about All God's Children 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.
Aaron Gwyn is the author of three novels. His fiction has appeared in his story collection Dog on the Cross, finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award; and numerous magazines and anthologies such as Esquire, McSweeney's, Best of the West, and Every True Pleasure: LGBTQ Tales of North Carolina. He is associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where he teaches fiction writing and American literature.
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