Synopses & Reviews
Hear Sena Jeter Naslund Discuss "Four Spirits Sena Jeter Naslund is the best-selling author of "Ahab's Wife. She recently sat down with HarperAudio to discuss her latest novel, "Four Spirits. You can listen to this audio interview from your desktop - simply clink on the links provided below.
HarperAudio: At the beginning of "Four Spirits you quote Faulkner and Victoria Grey. Can you tell us why you chose these quotations? Sena Jeter Naslund: Click here to listen to the author's response.
HarperAudio: How did you reconcile historical facts with the fictive imagination while writing "Four Spirits? Sena Jeter Naslund: Click here to listen to the author's response.
HarperAudio: A surprising number of the characters in "Four Spirits have single or surrogate parents. Was this intentional on your part? Sena Jeter Naslund: Click here to listen to the author's response.
HarperAudio: "Four Spirits embodies a wide range of characters in philosophy and events. Can you tell us how you feel about the scope of this novel? Sena Jeter Naslund: Click here to listen to the author's response.
HarperAudio: How would you compare Stella in "Four Spirits to Una in "Ahab's Wife? Sena Jeter Naslund: Click here to listen to the author's response.
HarperAudio: How did the process of writing "Four Spirits differ from the process of writing "Ahab's Wife? Sena Jeter Naslund: Click here to listen to the author's response.
HarperAudio: Though an enormous amount was accomplished by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's discrimination and violence remain a big part of this country. What advice would you offer to lawmakers and community leaders in trying to put an end to hate-crimesand to further integrate society? Sena Jeter Naslund: Click here to listen to the author's response.
HarperAudio: And now the author reads a short passage from "Four Spirits. Sena Jeter Naslund: Click here to listen to the author's reading from "Four Spirits.
Synopsis
- September 15, 2003, marks the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church.
Synopsis
Set in Naslund's home city of Birmingham, Alabama,
Four Spirits is poignant and evocative, rich in historical detail, and filled with the humanity that is the hallmark of Naslund's fiction.
Stella Silver is a young white college student brought up by her mannered aunts. She first witnesses the events of the freedom movement of the 1960s from a safe distance but, along with her friend Cat Cartwright, is soon drawn into the mounting conflagration.
A student at a black college, Christine Taylor struggles courageously to balance her family responsibilities, education, and work with the passions and dangers of the demonstrations. Her friend Gloria Callahan, descendant of a runaway slave, tries to move beyond her personal shyness to enter a wider circle including blacks and whites, men and women, all involved with the protests. Lionel Parrish, teacher, preacher, and peddler of funeral insurance, battles his own demons of lust and self-preservation, while New York activist Jonathan Green gives up a promising career to work for racial justice in the South.
Naslund brings to life this tumultuous time, weaving together the lives of blacks and whites, civil rights advocates and racists, and events of peaceful protest and violent repression, to create a tapestry of American social transformation.
Performed by Isabel Keating.
About the Author
Sena Jeter Naslund was born and educated in Birmingham, Alabama, and currently lives in Louisville,Kentucky. She is Distinguished Teaching Professor and recipient of the President's Outstanding CreativeActivity award at the University of Louisville, and she is Program Director of the brief-residency MFA inWriting program at Spalding University, Louisville. A New York Times and Publishers Weekly notable bookselection, Ahabs Wife was named one of the top five novels by Book Sense, as well asTime magazine. SenaJeter Naslund received the 2001 Harper Lee Award and Alabama Library Association Fiction Award and, in2003, the Heasley Prize, as well as the Lawrence Fiction Prize and grants from the National Endowment forthe Arts, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Kentucky Arts Council.