River Without End: A Novel of the Suwannee

The river is the Suwannee, a twist of green water arising out of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and cutting across Florida to the Gulf of Mexico. It's also the river of life, generations flowing into one another, gracefully and turbulently by turn. For historical novelist Jekel (Bayou), place and people are inextricably bound--and never more so than in this story of the Seminoles' struggle to save their Florida homeland. Set between 1818 and 1913, the saga celebrates the historic figure Osceola, the last great Seminole chief, and the descendants of his marriage with Morning Dew. Jekel draws us into his world, complete with visitations from animal spirits and a wife who cheerfully suggests that her husband marry again. The point of view shifts easily from male to female to nonhuman intelligence, including snakes, woodpeckers and skunk turtles--all of which are anthropomorphized and portrayed sympathetically but never sentimentally. Only white men get short shrift. From Andrew (Old Mad) Jackson, the embodiment of genocidal U.S. policy against the Seminoles, to Tom Craven, who breaks the heart of Osceola's headstrong granddaughter, Not Black, they are depicted as the most dangerous animals on the continent. Jekel is no tract writer, though; lyricism, sensuality, and an eye on the big picture inform her work. (June)