Burnt Pot Island - by Karen Dove Barr (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Catherine Williams earns her living shucking oysters in a filthy, mosquito-infested shed, like all Geechee women in Pin Point, Georgia, in 1904. Even though she graduates eighth grade and yearns to escape, none of the men whose children she bears can help her. Prohibition becomes law, and rum-running gangs invade the deserted sea islands, bribing the sheriff and the mayor of nearby Savannah, who promise unheard-of sums of money to the impoverished Geechees to do their dirty work, and who lure Catherine's son Willie into the business. When the owner of the oyster cannery makes an unwanted sexual advance toward Catherine's daughter Licia, Catherine is forced to hide Licia with her son on Skidaway Island, the epicenter of fine-liquor smuggling and manufacture of moonshine. She struggles to keep her job and home, both of which depend on pleasing her boss. The mayor entices Licia into sex and rum-running, building her a secret house on Burnt Pot Island, where even voodoo and Christian prayer aren't enough to keep her safe. Federal agents close in for a raid, forcing Catherine to choose between abandoning everything she has worked for and saving her children.

Review Quotes

"In the haunting coastal waters and marshes of early twentieth-century Georgia are the beautiful but devastating voices and perspectives of three generations of slave descendants. Told with a deep understanding of the region's natural beauty and dark legacy, Burnt Pot Island weaves together the Geechee struggle. Opportunities are scarce, degrading, or dangerous, and progress is slow, yet on every atmospheric page, the characters' resiliency and certainty propels and shapes their success story."
--Carter Schwonke, author of A Good Day to Start

"Burnt Pot Island vividly depicts a time and a place in the deep South when racism was in full swing, survival was hard, and compromises had to be made, taking us into a time and a place like few books about the region. Readers of this moving and unique story won't quickly forget this author's fine work, and like me, will look forward to whatever she writes next."
--Rosemary Daniell, author of The Murderous Sky: Poems of Madness & Mercy

"The natural beauty on Skidaway Island is so elusive and rare that it cannot be fully captured in photographs. . . . Karen Dove Barr deftly weaves descriptions of this wild and glorious place with a page-turning narrative that at its heart is about a mother and daughter dreaming about escaping their lot in life. . . . One reads with bated breath to see how it will all end--and enjoys every step of the ride."
--Brienne Walsh, Freelance Writer for Millie, Forbes, and Marketwatch

About the Author

Karen Dove Barr is a native Georgian and an attorney, with a BA from Mercer and a JD from John Marshall Law School. She is the author of Wild Times on Skidaway Island and Running through Menopause. Her essays have appeared in Runners' World, Fitness Magazine, Dog Fancy, Coastal Senior, and Savannah Magazine. Burnt Pot Island is her first novel. Skidaway Island has been her home since 1989.