Redwood and Wildfire

Locations
Call Number: Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Hairston, Andrea
On Shelf At: Malletts Creek Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Malletts Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Fiction / Fantasy / Hairston, Andrea	4-week checkout	On Shelf

"Winner of the Otherwise Award and the Carl Brandon Kindred Award. At the turn of the 20th century, minstrel shows transform into vaudeville, which slides into moving pictures. Hunkering together in dark theatres, diverse audiences marvel at flickering images. Redwood, an African American woman, and Aidan, a Seminole Irish man, journey from Georgia to Chicago, from haunted swampland to a "city of the future." They are gifted performers and hoodoo conjurors, struggling to call up the wondrous world they imagine, not just on stage and screen, but on city streets, in front parlors, in wounded hearts. The power of hoodoo is the power of the community that believes in its capacities to heal. Living in a system stacked against them, Redwood and Aidan's power and talent are torment and joy. Their search for a place to be who they want to be is an exhilarating, painful, magical adventure"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Publishers Weekly Review
Summary / Annotation
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Engrossing characters, fabulous story submitted by Sockethair on August 30, 2023, 12:24pm I first heard of this author on a podcast about social justice and science fiction. She has written more speculative science fiction, but this book is historical fiction/magical realism. Set in Jim Crow-era Georgia and then Chicago, this is a wonderfully inventive look at a time and place that is still somehow mysterious. The end of vaudeville and the beginning of motion pictures actually had many women and POC directors and writers. This story's protagonists are so fresh and unique- I highly recommend this deep dive into what their lives might have been like. The Hoodoo/Voudou/Seminole spiritualities that are included in the storyline are just added bonus to make it superbly magical realism.