Synopses & Reviews
Lee Cotton is a black boy born white-skinned in segregated Eureka, Mississippi, in 1950. Over the course of Lee's first twenty years, he will fall in love with the daughter of a local Klansman, get kicked senseless and left for dead on a freight train headed north, end up in St. Louis as a white man, and be drafted into the psych-ops corps in Nevada. There, a drunken accident will separate Lee from another part of his identity and change his fate yet again. Before he returns to Mississippi, he will experience up close and personal the women's liberation movement and the dawn of the Lesbian Nation.
Lee Cotton's voice equal parts Delta Blues and Motown takes us on an exhilarating freedom ride through America's preoccupation with identity politics. His funny, forgiving charm ultimately embodies a serious message: The freaks and oddities of this world may well be divine.
Review
"In introducing Lee, [Wilson] does far more than spin an irresistible tragicomedy that combines history with flights of fancy he challenges us to look at what truly defines us if it is not our race, gender, or socioeconomic status." School Library Journal
Review
"[P]art tall tale and part satire, and the novel's humor and sheer zaniness prevent it from getting bogged down in political hectoring." Booklist
Review
"This whimsical tale, filled with highly entertaining puns and innuendos, explores race, gender, and sexual stereotypes through an unusual set of characters and bizarre circumstances. Recommended..." Library Journal
Review
"A bit of Touched By an Angel sanctimony near the end scarcely dampens the antic entertainment offered here." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Cotton is strong enough to make up for its tacked-on, O. Henry-ish ending. And that strength derives from one source: the wise, winning voice of its main character." Washington Post
Review
"Cotton is an odd, inventive, entertaining and extremely smart novel a rare combination in fiction nowadays." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
About the Author
Christopher Wilson earned his Ph.D. in humor and works as a consulting semiotician. His first novel, Mischief, was short-listed for the Whitbread Award. He lives in London.