On the Southern Literary Trail discussion

Comments on this board should be written with the assumption that not all readers have finished the book. Please avoid revealing any spoilers.

If your library offers you access to Hoopla, A Cry of Angels is available there.

I’m reading this now! How in the world have I missed reading this wonderful book!

Judith wrote: "I’m reading this now! How in the world have I missed reading this wonderful book!"

I know. That is how I felt. Why is it not widely known?

I just don’t know why it’s not more widely known! I’ve read The Tall a woman more than once and most of John Erle’s books and many many more, but I’ve not ever come across this gem of a novel! Just excited that I have now!

I’m just getting started with this book, but it is already everything I love about Southern literature - place and people. I always hope for three additional perks in a novel - plot, prose and punch for the full five star experience. So far this one is on track. Meet the widow Miss Esther: “All her life a battler, and surrounded by nothing but weaklings, Miss Esther now found charges worthy of her energies. Old people. People forgotten by those who run the world, people with nothing going for them but their wills. This kind of battle Miss Esther understood, and she threw herself into it, with fire.”

And I haven’t even mentioned 13-year-old Earl Whitaker yet ;-)

Oh, how enticing, Wyndy!!

So excited to hear everyone's thoughts on this book.

Can't wait to get started in a few days. After finishing Cold Sassy Tree I needed to get out of the South for a bit, so went in a different direction. But I shall return!

Two chapters in. I love this!

Yippee!

I'll be reading it when I finish The Tall Woman which I started today.

Two great books on your plate, Cathrine.

Chapter three really took me back to my childhood when Jayell, Gwen, Earl and Em went to the Calvary church meeting. My grandmother was a Primitive Baptist, otherwise know as a Holy Roller, and going to tabernacle with her on Saturday night was the best show in town. That scene with the musical Parker family, the chanting, clapping, stomping, and people struck with the Holy Ghost, well, I could swear Jeff Fields was sitting on the other side of my Granny when he wrote that. What a scene!

"Mrs. Metcalf, she's a Christian Scientist. She takes a drink now and then, but she swears it's not for medicinal purposes." ROFL

Alright. Give me a seat in the choir. This book is a true gem. Why has it never received more attention?

Excited to get started on this one! Great comments so far! Looking forward to getting to know these folks!

Question of the hour, Tom. Where has this guy been!

Hello

I’ve been lurking and reading reviews by this group for a year or so but never posted but I just want to say thanks for recommending this book. I’m loving it. The perfect southern lit in my humble opinion.

I hope you will feel like posting more often, Deena, although lurking is fine. I do my fair share of it. So glad you are loving the book.

Lurk or comment, Deena, we are happy either way. I will say it's quite a compliment to the power of this book to bring you to the forefront. I am hoping to finish this afternoon, and will just say I don't think I've ever read anything like it.

Chapter 4 and trying to figure out what’s going on with Em. It’s like he goes into a trance and Earl is the only one that can take care of him.

“I had hoped that going to church that night would make a difference, maybe distract him from that awful black mood of his first couple of days home, but it hadn’t. If anything, it had only seemed to make it worse.”

As for the church service, I’ve never experienced anything like that before. It must have been quite a sight!!!

Lori, a Pentecostal church meeting is quite an adventure. As far as Em, we learn something new about him in each chapter. He is defInitely a complex character.

I will be starting this tomorrow but I have a question. I'm reading the Hoopla ebook and there is a foreward. Is it okay to read it? I've been disappointed in the past a couple of times with TMI and forewards. Other times they are helpful with adding to a reader's appreciation.
Any thoughts on this before I begin?

Is it the forward by Terry Kay? If so, it won't ruin anything at all, but just give an overview of the author and how important the book is.

Yes, thanks Diane.

Whoa! Chapter 20 and I am gasping for breath just like Earl in this momentous turning point. So many incredible quotes here. I’m afraid to quote for fear anyone not this far should read them first within the context to feel their impact.

I haven't had a chance to do any research on the author. Does anybody know anything about Jeff Fields? I'm amazed that a book this good could be written by a total unknown, or more specifically, that he could remain unknown after writing a book this good.

I looked him up, Tom. He's still alive, in his 80's. Just never wrote anything else, maybe he thought he'd said it all with this book. My hope is that he's been writing all these years and has a few manuscripts lying around. He certainly hasn't been disillusioned with fame like Harper Lee.

I also basically found only the information Diane mentions. When people kept asking Margaret Mitchell to write something else, she said she had written what she wanted to write. Maybe some authors are just satisfied with one great book. The sad part, to me, is that Jeff Fields has never had the recognition and the book is so sadly underread. I hope there will be a discovery of it and maybe we are all contributing to that. My praise goes to my GR friend, Bob, who told me he had read it in 1970 and it was his favorite book, inspiring me to read it.

Thank you, Tom, for making it your choice this month.

A little about Jeff Fields.

https://www.georgiacenterforthebook.o...

Finished book 1.
I fear Jayell has made a huge mistake with his marriage.
I'm enjoying it much, but so far the goings a bit slow. To be fair, there have been many distractions as of late and my reading always takes a hit.

Thanks for the link Sara. There is no date but encouraging about his working on a second novel.

I totally get the distractions lately. I had a tough time and found myself rereading but hang in there! It’s well worth it!

That Klan meeting.

That Klan meeting reminded me for all the world of a Trump rally.

I just finished it this morning. It is an easy five stars. The next scene where the klansmen appear was very powerful.

This novel has taken a while to win me over. But, for whatever crazy reason, the whole Miss Lilly and the puppies scene helped me turn the corner and finally feel invested in these characters. Em Jojohn and his ghosts and his witches . . . His protectiveness and friendship . . . His other demons that we haven't even met yet. Plus, I'm always a sucker for a fully-fleshed adolescent boy trying to make sense of his chaotic environment. Earl Whitaker is worming his way into my heart.

It took me a while to get into it as well, I think because there are so many of them, but the more you learn about these characters, the more you love them.

I finished last night so will head over to to the final thoughts thread.

You were right Lori. :)

If I was reading any slower, I’d be in reverse. Such is the malady of my 2020 Covid brain. But that wedding . . . what a perfect way to wrap up Book One: “Y’ ain’t got your bride!” screamed Em, and quickly hoisted the girl and dumped her in the battered cab beside Carlos.” This book is not a page-turner but its people and their charms are truly cathartic.

Slow enjoyment is better than none at all, Wyndy. I thought it got better and better as I went farther into it.

You are so right, Diane - it gets better and better the more you read. It takes some powerful, authentic writing to bring tears to my jaded eyes, and it has happened more than once with this story. These people are becoming very close to me. Lines like this are pretty profound and award-worthy: “. . . if you live for a while in a house of old people, you become attuned to certain shadings of solitude, levels of quiet. You find that there is a difference between the silence of sulking and the silence filled with grief, or the silence of someone merely listening to the softening of a day.” Wow.

Yes, I noted that passage too. Listening to the softening of a day is a wondrous thing.

That's one beautiful passage Wyndy.

Isn't that a beautiful passage, Wyndy. I think being a bit too close to that time of life myself, it has an extra level of meaning. Glad the book has grown on you.