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A Novel
by George Dawes Green
Book Reviewed by:Savannah may appear to be "some town out of a fable," with its vine flowers, turreted mansions, and ghost tours that romanticize the city's history. But look deeper and you'll uncover secrets, past and present, that tell a more sinister tale. It's the story at the heart of George Dawes Green's chilling new novel, The Kingdoms of Savannah.
It begins quietly on a balmy Southern night as some locals gather at Bo Peep's, one of the town's favorite watering holes. Within an hour, however, a man will be murdered and his companion will be "disappeared." An unlikely detective, Morgana Musgrove, doyenne of Savannah society, is called upon to unravel the mystery of these crimes. Morgana is an imperious, demanding, and conniving woman, whose four grown children are weary of her schemes. But one by one she inveigles them into helping with her investigation, and soon the family uncovers some terrifying truths―truths that will rock Savannah's power structure to its core.
Moving from the homeless encampments that ring the city to the stately homes of Savannah's elite, Green's novel brilliantly depicts the underbelly of a city with a dark history and the strangely mesmerizing dysfunction of a complex family.
While some of the characters' traits seem implausible at times (Jaq single-handedly delivers feats of prowess without batting an eye; Ransom has been estranged from high society for years, but is able to jump back into the milieu without missing a beat), the historical facts the novel is based on ring true. Green alludes to Savannah's dark capitalism and the audacity of the City's current elite, as present as the gorgeous columnar architecture of the home where Morgana Musgrove still resides. Behind every beautiful building lies slave labor and blood. Behind every development Guzman and his cronies pursue lies the land's Native history. Yet there are also heroes, both dead and alive...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by Tina Choi).
In The Kingdoms of Savannah, author George Dawes Green describes General James Oglethorpe as a "jewel of a man, a rare nonmonster in Savannah history." Indeed, Oglethorpe was unique in the context of 1700s British imperialism: a champion of the oppressed who fought against the powerful in issues ranging from prison abuse to slavery to the attempts made by the English to ban North American colonies' right to trade.
Oglethorpe was born in Yorkshire, England in 1696 and began his military career in 1717, fighting under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Austro-Turkish War. He later attempted to participate in the Seven Years' War, but was denied a commission by the British, after which he ended up taking on a different name and fighting with...
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Harvard is the storehouse of knowledge because the freshmen bring so much in and the graduates take so little out.
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Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author
Compelling characters and vivid settings make this impressive Southern narrative stand out among the best. The Kingdoms of Savannah is not to be missed.
