Bloodroot

The Story

Aaron Roy Even's startling, imagistic debut takes its cue from a true event: In 1936, in a small town near Charlottesville, Virginia, an aging black caretaker and his sister shot dead a white sheriff acting on orders to turn them off their land. In Bloodroot, Even explores the circumstances leading up to this violent standoff and the tragedy that followed as seen through the eyes of Elsa, a young, white county employee fresh out of school and filled with aspiration and illusion, and those of Wesley, the aging black caretaker of a vanished family's estate. While Elsa struggles to retain her authority and self-respect, Wesley is haunted by past concessions and his sister's attachment to the land. When he stands in the way of a proposed turpentine plant by refusing the county's purchase offer, both Elsa and Wesley find themselves moving relentlessly toward an end neither wants to reach. The novel's title is taken from the flower. Native to Virginia, its tie to the land is such that its roots bleed red when cut. Bloodrootmarks the powerful debut of a gifted writer.