Author Description

"The Snake in the Garden" is an explosive depiction of racism in twentieth-century Arkansas, seen through the lens of interracial relationships over four generations. Starting in 1926, and paying homage to Kate Chopin's "Desiree's Baby," the story moves on to the turbulent night of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, the Hollywood music scene of the 1970s and '80s, and the still-troubled racial attitudes of 1993. The novel depicts racism from the point of view of both blacks and whites - racists, non-racists and victims, alike. It shows the damage done to everyone when we forget that we are not all brothers and sisters. Lucille Day worked as a domestic for the Whittier family in Jim Crow Arkansas in the 1950s and early '60s. Her daughter, Regina, was forbidden by the cultural norms of the times to play with the Whittier's daughter, Karen. In 1963, when Regina and Karen were teenagers, the relationship between the races was still uneasy. Bigotry prevailed, and the Natural Order -- in which whites and blacks were strictly forbidden to have intimate relationships or to marry -- was the law. The night President Kennedy was assassinated, three days after he had visited their town of Jefferson Springs, all hell broke loose. The events of that night cast a deep shadow over both girls. Regina was sent out to California to live with her Aunt Violet. Her singing talent was discovered and she became a pop star. She learned to fit in with the white celebrity world of Los Angeles. She had a white husband and three beautiful children. Karen, meanwhile, was forced to stay home and live and work under the cruel thumb of her father, a judge intent on preserving the Natural Order. She longed for a true father-daughter bond, but in his eyes, she could do no right. She consoled herself in her boring and barren life with chocolate and English romance novels. When she left Arkansas, Regina had vowed never to return. But when her mother died, she knew she knew she had to attend the funeral