Literature -- 3 1/2 stars
In the years following the end of the Civil War, Mariah Reddick, former slave and now midwife in a small Tennessee town, holds her dying son who was beaten and then shot while trying to give a speech in the town square. To find her son's killer, she speaks with people all over town--white and black, rich and poor--and speaks, and speaks, and speaks. This is a sequel to Mr. Hicks' THE WIDOW OF THE SOUTH. Though it is a completely stand alone book, the relationship between Mariah and her former owner is continued. The first book seemed to be based on some historical fact. This time, I couldn't help but question the number of former slaves who own their own businesses and/or homes just years after escaping slavery. But the book really suffers, not from (possible) historical inaccuracies or even from the subject, but from a pace that is so glacial it seems to be standing still. It's not until the final 100 pages that anything really happens, and the happening is touching while not entirely unexpected.
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