Books Set in North America, Mississippi, United States

The Tilted World, by Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly (2013)

This novel takes place in the fictional town of Hobnob Landing, Mississippi in 1927, during prohibition.  The town is located on the Mississippi River and is protected by levees, which are strained due to the heavy rains and high-water levels.

Young Dixie Clay lives with her husband in the outskirts of town.  She married young and soon found out that her handsome husband was not the man she thought he was.  Soon after their marriage, she discovered that he was a bootlegger with a violent side.  She perfected the recipe, and soon became known as making the best moonshine in the area.  She was able to command high prices for her alcohol, which her husband sells.

When two Federal revenue agents go missing, two more are sent out to find them.  One agent, Teddy Ingersoll, happens upon Dixie Clay and they begin a tentative friendship.  He was unaware that she was making moonshine.

This is set against the background of the great Mississippi flood, which decimated the South.  The town folk are preparing for the inevitable flood, and must decide whether to stay and sandbag the levees or breach the levees so that the City of New Orleans might be spared.

I enjoyed the first part of the book, but the last quarter seem a bit far fetched.

Read:  July 19, 2023

3.5 Stars

Books Set in Europe, Barcelona, Spain

Cathedral of the Sea, by Ildefono Falcones (2006)

Cathedral of the Sea is a historical novel set in 14th Century Barcelona.  The novel spans from 1320 to 1384 and follows the life of Arnau, who was born into a serfdom.  His mother was brutally raped by the landowner on her wedding night and was later forced to become wetnurse to the lord’s family.  Arnau’s father escapes with his son to the free city Barcelona where they attempt to make a life together.

Life is not easy, but Arnau and his father find contentment.  Arnau became friends with a young boy near his age who becomes his adopted brother, Joan.  As children, the two boys were inseparable.  They find comfort worshiping at the foot of the Virgin Mary in the cathedral that is being built.  Arnau joins the stone-worker’s guild, called bastaixos, while his brother joins the Church.  Ultimately, Arnau becomes very wealthy and is instrumental in providing funds to the king for protecting the city.  In exchange for providing funds, the king forces Arnau into a marriage with Eleanor, a spiteful baroness.  It is a loveless marriage that was never consummated and could be Arnau's downfall.

Arnau befriends members of the city’s Jewish community.  This puts him at odds with the Church and the inquisition.  Joan has become an inquisitor, Arnau is hauled before his brother to answer for his sins.

[Spoiler Alert: The reader was led to believe that Arnau's mother had died.  She appears deep into the novel as a prostitute in Barcelona.

This is a very long novel and was originally written in Spanish.  I liked it, but didn’t love it.  Perhaps something was lost in translation.

Read:  May 27, 2023

3.5 Stars