A Novel. First Edition. Hardback. Dust jacket. 460 pp. Mercer University Press. ISBN 970881462579.

This unique three-part novel assumes that, regardless of what Americans learn in school, the Southeast was not a barren wilderness when the English arrived at Jamestown. It was full of Native Americans , other Europeans, and Africans who were there for various reasons. Based on extensive research into the racial mixing that occurred in the early years of southeastern settlement, this provocative multi-generational story shows that these people did not simply vanish, but that many were absorbed into the new communities that gradually formed throughout the southeast, becoming “white” whenever their complexions allowed. The inability to accept their true heritages illustrates the high price many of these people paid for their way of life. Diego Martin arrives in 1567 in the American Southeast—the region the Spaniards call La Florida—as a hog drover with a Spanish exploring party. The leader of the expedition turns against him and abandons him to the wilderness, where friendly natives rescue him. Daniel Hunter, a Quaker from Philadelphia, sets up a school among these “disadvantaged” mountain people and falls in love with a Martin daughter. Later, Daniel’s descendants are living in the same town, though with little awareness of their ancestral past. The Martin family has split in two, the merchants in town denying any relationship to their racially mixed cousins on Mulatto Bald. A young woman from town, Galicia, falls in love with a young man from the bald, Will, not realizing that he is her cousin. They marry, have a daughter, and move to a new industrial center, becoming prominent citizens. When Will’s son from a teenage liaison appears at his door, he invites him in, unwittingly setting the stage for a forbidden love between his unacknowledged son and his cherished daughter, neither of whom realizes that they are half-siblings. This is a novel you will not be able to put down without wondering “Where will it take me next?”

Lisa Alther was born in 1944 in Kingsport, Tennessee. She received her BA in English Literature from Wellesley College. She has published five novels, one novella, and one memoir, as well as many short stories and articles. Alther taught Southern fiction at St. Michael’s College in Vermont and at East Tennessee State University, in addition to having lectured and done readings throughout the United States, Western Europe, China, Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia. Photo Ina Danko.

Reviews
Washed in the Blood will draw you in. The times when life was precarious for people of mixed ancestry are touchable through the characters and the stories. You share their struggles, and their fears make your gut twist. A great read! Washed in the Blood is Alther's best Appalachia novel—rich, measured, insightful, poignant.     Lisa Alther has applied her storytelling prowess to the mysteries and legends surrounding the European settlement of America and the “mysterious” populations of the southeastern United States. Meticulous research, combined with Alther's insight, make Washed in the Blood a work of fiction based on an historically plausible set of circumstances. Her sense of character brings to life the legends that have been a vital part of many Southern families' histories. A feat of historical imagination, Washed in the Blood explores the fascinating racial heritage of Appalachia with profound humanity. Alther’s unforgettable characters live and breathe and persevere, embracing a world that would deny their existence.  Read this book for an intimate family saga and a stirring American epic. Washed in the Blood is an intelligent and insightful novel that traces the history of the often troubled peoples of Appalachia with sensitivity but without sentimentality. Her story and the characters that inhabit it came alive for me from the first page.  Alther is an important voice in the fiction of Appalachia, and her keen insights into the culture and history of the people of Appalachia are a welcome addition to the literature of the region and beyond.

Official Lisa Alther Home Page.

Watch a video about Lisa Alther by Open Road.