Inspired by a near-mythic event on the wild Florida frontier at the turn of the twentieth century, Shadow Country re-imagines the legend of the inspired Everglades sugar planter and notorious outlaw E. J. Watson, who drives himself relentlessly toward his own violent end at the hands of neighbors who mostly admired him, in a killing that obsessed his favorite son. Shadow Country transverses strange landscapes inhabited by Americans of every provenance and color, including the black and Indian inheritors of archaic racism that “still casts its shadow over the nation.”
Oh, how lucky we are to live in an age in which three acclaimed novels--KILLING MISTER WATSON, LOST MAN'S RIVER, and BONE BY BONE--can be had in one publication. These literary touchstones, about the notorious life of Florida sugar planter E.J. Watson, were conceived as one novel but published as three, all celebrated as original and important. Now the author has reworked them extensively to combine them and make them even better. Anthony Heald so inhabits this work that it's difficult to imagine anyone else narrating it. He produces vivid characters with an elastic voice that elicits a multitude of emotions in the listener. Employing superb pacing, he uses the author's words to create a suspenseful atmosphere that keeps the listener engaged. And at 39 hours--that's a feat. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly, starred review, Pick of the Week...
'Matthiessen’s Watson trilogy is a touchstone of modern American literature…this reworking…is remarkable....Where Watson was a magnificent character before, he comes across as nothing short of iconic here; it’s difficult to find another figure in American literature so thoroughly and convincingly portrayed.'
About the Author
PETER MATTHIESSEN has written eight novels and a book of short stories. His parallel career as a naturalist and environmental activist has produced numerous acclaimed works of nonfiction, most of them serialized in the New Yorker. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1974.
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