Pale A Novel by Edward Farmer

Book Excerpt:

""Some things just don't keep well inside this house …"

The summer of 1966 burned hot across America but nowhere hotter than the cotton fields of Mississippi. Finding herself in a precarious position as a black woman living alone, Bernice accepts her brother Floyd's invitation to join him as a servant for a white family, and she enters the web of hostility and deception that is the Kern plantation household.

The secrets of the house are plentiful, yet the silence that has encompassed it for so many years suddenly breaks with the arrival of the harvest and the appearance of Jesse and Fletcher to the plantation as cotton pickers. These two brothers, the sons of the house servant Silva, awaken a vengeful seed within the Missus of the house as she plots to punish not only her husband but Silva's family as well. When the Missus starts flirting with Jesse, she sets into motion a dangerous game that could get Jesse killed and destroy the lives of the rest of the servants.

Bernice walks the fine line between emissary and accomplice, as she tries her best to draw secrets from the Missus's heart while using their closeness to protect the lives of the people around her. Once the Missus's plans are complete, families will be severed, loyalties will be shattered, and no one will come out unscathed.

With a dazzling voice and productive emotional tension, Pale explores the ties that bind and how quickly humanity can fade and return us to primal ways."

Title: Pale
Author: Edward Farmer
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:

"Pale" by Edward Farmer

My Speculation:

I found 'Pale' quite an engaging read where we find Bernice going to live with her brother, Floyd, in the 1960s in Mississippi, who worked on a cotton plantation. What a story of how this Missus was one very deceptive, petty, and vindictive person that caused all kinds of trouble for everyone, which included her husband. Yes, what she was trying to do was to soothe her wounds. What will turn out from all of this is after the Missus dies, there will be more secrets and lies of the family that worked for them will come out. Be ready for a story of where "there is a thin line between servant and slave and how revengeful choices can define and change lives for generations." I will say this was quite a sad story even at the end of what happened.

I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of this book.