Love in a Dry Season

If you understand the magical writings of Shelby Foote, you will enjoy this light hearted romance set in the deep south. The colorful back ground and details that Mr. Foote weaves through this great getaway read is perfect!

Shelby Foote brought Ken Burns's documentary "The Civil War" to life with his rhythmic, honey-voiced narration; and his prose in "Love in a Dry Season" is the written extension of it. As I read it, I felt as if the author were sitting next to me on the veranda in a comfortable rocker on a warm summer evening relaying the story in his soft, Mississippi delta drawl. The Barcroft family, the Carruthers family, and the scoundrel Harley Drew all stepped off the page and came to life. There are no two dimensional, cardboard characters here. Quite simply, it is a good story which is well told. The influence of William Faulkner is apparent but not overwhelming. For the reader who enjoys the varying degrees of personalty light and shadow which comes with well designed literary characters "Love in a Dry Season" is a success. The story flows logically and is put together like a well-designed building where each element has a purpose with no superfluous parts.

This is a fascinating examination of the courtship of a well heeled spinster in a small Mississippi town. Young Shelby Foote turned down his flame a little for this one, having just been stung when told by his moonshine hunting pal and idol, William Faulkner, that he should "try to do better" next time after finishing Follow Me Down. Following the lurid and colorful courtroom drama of that first mature work, the prose of "Dry Season" is indeed about as dry as it gets. Those few pithy words from a master are paid up fully here, as a plot virtually without significant action proceeds with extraordinary tension, as the reader almost literally waits for the next pin to drop. The male lead is a classic American archetype, the confidence man, already explored by luminaries such as Faulkner himself, Melville and Twain. The reader is in little doubt about the character, although Foote's direct statements about the fellow are few. Nor is it an absolute matter; he is gainfully employed and there is room for him to grow or change. So all the drama is on the level of deeper morality and character. The social fabric is what is being explored here, finally, the delicate surface tension of the remnant of Southern aristocracy persisting into century 20 and holding things together in straightened circumstances. This is classic fiction, perhaps as old fashioned in theme as Thackery and Austen, but fully informed stylistically by Foote's incredible melding of the best of two modern masters, Hemingway and Faulkner. It is finally an odd book, no doubt -- one of a kind but unforgettable.

Good feeling for the South and good expression of that frenetic and searching period of our history, this is the first novel of Shelby Foote's that I have read. I found it a very "good read" sort of novel and look forward to the next one - comng soon in the mail.