Why a Booktrail?
1927: Set against the backdrop of the historic 1927 Mississippi Flood, this is a story of murder
The Tilted World
What you need to know before your trail
Rains swell the Mississippi, and all those who live beside it fear flooding
Federal revenue agent Ted Ingersoll and his partner, Ham Johnson arrive in the tiny hamlet of Hobnob, Mississippi, (fictional) to investigate the disappearance of two fellow agents on the trail of a local bootlegger,
But what they find is an abandoned baby boy and so need to find him a home – and so they find him a home with Dixie Clay Holliver. Dixie is married to a philanderer but she lost her own child to motherhood and so desperately wants to have a second chance at rearing a child.
Ingersoll and Clay are immediately attracted to each other but this could lead to problems as it turns out that she is the best bootlegger in the country and could know a great deal about what Ingersoll and his partner are looking for. she on the other hand is well aware of Ingersoll, who he is, what he stands for and what danger he could bringing to her.
Meanwhile, rich entrepreneurs are growing ever fearful of the river flooding and so plan to burst the levee at Hobnob, down stream from their home of New Orleans – to protect themselves and send the risk elsewhere.
Travel Guide
The floods of 1917
The historical setting of the 1927 floods makes for quite a read. It is an oppressive atmosphere but one which comes to life in shockingly realistic detail. Downpours here are not like any others in the world – they are almost like weapons blasting and flattering those below on earth. The rains – almost like biblical proportions – is reflected in the language
“….the rain fell horizontal straight at her…
…..his face obscured behind that dripping veil….
…now just fat drops plopping from greasy looking leaves….”
And biblical proportions may not be a bad way of describing it for the flood at the time was on such a grand a scale that it destroyed one million homes and submerged a huge landmass.
Most of those affected were the poorer members of society – notably the Southern sharecroppers, and so had a huge bearing on peoples livelihoods etc. A flood did not just destroy objects in its wake – it destroyed lives, futures and everything else. The story behind the story therefore is fascinating as it is cruel but this novel uses this as a backdrop to explore the people and society at the time.
The Deep South
The deep south, the culture and language of the time, prohibition, bootlegging and the drink they called moonshine – illegal alcohol which they would distill at night for fear of being caught hence the name moonshine – all feature in this tale of fear, danger and of course love.
“She wore an apron. Her perfume was moonshine”
Murder and moonshine? An intriguing premise…
The greed of the bankers who wish to save themselves at the expense of others is frightening –
Hobnob is weak because of that big horseshoe bend, levees in danger of ruin anyway. If they were to burst, that would take the pressure off the levees down south, save those big columned mansions in the Garden District
As for the rest of the setting the scene – the novel explores the lifestyles and various characters living in this part of the world very well – we care for the characters and feel that the worlds of bootlegging and other illegal activities are explored.
Where Next?
