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The Drifters: A Christian Historical Novel about the Melungeon Shanty Boat People
By Tonya Holmes Shook
Abstract
Harriett Holmes was 15 and pregnant when she boarded in 1837 a Kentucky shantyboat that would become her home for the next decade. Life was difficult for many people during the 1800s, but it was especially so for Harriett’s family, because they were Melungeons, a mixed race with low social status.
The Drifters follows Harriett and her family through the Trail of Tears, the Civil War and Texas cattle drives. Can a slave help Harriett and her family find solace, redemption and grace through God? This book explores that and other themes in a compelling story about a forgotten ethnic group in American history.
Critical Acclaim
"Wonderful novel--comparable to Alex Haley's Roots." --Lawton (OK) Constitution
"I could not put it down. The writing is masterfully done. (The book) has that uncanny ability to allow the reader to be right there as part of the action ... whether it be the heat of passion or the fear and pain of the unknown ritual of a baby's introduction to the world or the isolation from others and the fear of being caught. I was right there with them, without author intrusion." --Jean Ravenscroft, 2005-06 OWFI Officer, Oklahoma City
"The Drifters is a powerful book exploring the gamut of human emotions during the American Civil War and the Indian War years. ... Tonya’s gripping tale ... spills over to questions of race, ethnicity, and social class, and how these factors interact with the broader issues of right and wrong, good and evil. But perhaps most touchingly ... The Drifters rides a theme of unrequited love, in this case a devotion that was not diminished by death nor the passing of time. A wonderful book!" – Dr. N. Brent Kennedy, Ph.D., President of the Wellmont Foundation, Kingsport, Tennessee
"This book is a marvelous blend of fact and fiction—a great historical novel ... you can’t put it down!" – Faye Hamilton, Comanche, Oklahoma
"One of the best books I’ve ever read." – Shera Isler, Tucumcari, New Mexico
"This book grips your interest from start to finish, especially as you learn about the ability of these people to survive in spite of the utter disdain in which they were held while living in shantyboats on some of our nation’s major rivers. ... A good read." – Jo Ann Rowan, Gray, Tennessee
"This will take you from laughter to tears." – Nicki Green, Temple, Oklahoma
About the Author
Tonya Holmes Shook was born in Oklahoma and lived in New Mexico and Texas before returning to Oklahoma in 1985. She is author of Displaced Cherokee: Come Home, Come Home, a book documentary that took First Place in the 1986 Open Class Category at the Oklahoma State Fair. The book also was endorsed by the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. In addition to writing books, Tonya is an accomplished artist, poet and short story writer. Many of her works have Christian themes.
Contents of The Drifters
Preface, 7; Acknowledgments, 8; Chapters: 1. Transitions; 2. Memories Baked in Clay; 3. Revelations; 4. Shadows of the Past; 5. Baubles and Trinkets; 6. Taproot of Shame; 7. Creating Clannish Ways; 8. Alabama Prospects; 9. Cornered Trapper; 10. Looking for Beulah Land; 11. Changes; 12. Disillusionment; 13. Lost; 14. Expanded Circle; 15. A Reason to Fight; 16. Consequences of War; 17. New Blood; 18. Touchstones in Chaos; 19. Fort Smith; 20. Slippery Escape; 21. Flight by Night; 22. Duvall’s Bluff; 23. Temptation’s Opportunity; 24. Borrowed Trouble; 25. Destination, Duty, Disintegration; 26. Prelude; 27. Consequences; 28. Little Rock; 29. Stolen Legacy; 30. Determination; 31. Separation’s Birth; 32. Introductions and Calculations; 33. Texas Plans; 34. Life’s New Chapter; 35. Settling In; 36. Western Complication; 37. The Book; 38. Trails and Revenge; 39. Home
Excerpt from Chapter 1
Harriett fumbled her way in toward Canady’s lumpy bed. Her feet unsteadily inched along the plank floors until her hands touched the bed claiming a corner of the houseboat. It was not the feather bed she and her cousin, Elizabeth, had shared back in her Kentucky holler. Carefully, she sat down on the straw mattress. Stirrings inside her belly connived with the movement of the plank floor as if competing for her attention in this strange, new place.
Harriett swallowed hard, and pulled her woven shawl tighter around her shoulders. December cold made her numb. She tried to decipher her surroundings veiled by darkness, but was unable to see anything. Unsettled mysteries compounded her depression. She knew the houseboat, secured to a riverbank in Kentucky, was Canady’s home, but that was of little comfort. Knowing they hadn’t left Kentucky made no difference either. It wasn’t home.
How could Canady stand it? Unidentified odors coming from the dark spaces spun her imagination out of control. These reeking smells conveyed it would be a difficult transition. She could not see the boarded, stretched hides piled across the roof and sides of the boat but their musky presence didn’t require sight. Recollections of another time and place, not connected to this houseboat, came flooding back. The stench floating throughout the cabin reminded her of a fierce morning sickness she had suffered only a few months earlier. Darkness prevented any visual distractions, birthing a dread that odor could provoke more than thought. Harriett knew she could deal with the known; it was the unknown that terrified her the most.
Tired and disoriented, the pregnant, teen-bride associated her surroundings with that of a formidable foe, instead of a Beulah Land of hope with her new husband. She had an immediate and intense desire to return to her aunt and uncle’s house. ... It wasn’t that simple to go back. ...
312 pages / paperback / 6 x 9 format / 8 photographs / Copyright 2005 / $24.95 / Includes CIP Data / ISBN: 0-922993-19-X
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