Five Smooth Stones
ISBN 9780517506875 | |
Five Smooth Stones is a 1966 novel by
The novel's African-American protagonist, David Champlain, was born into the poverty and Jim Crow justice of Depression-era New Orleans. His father was lynched by a white mob and he was raised by his grandparents. David himself is brilliant and lucky and is graduated from a Midwestern college, then Harvard Law School, then Oxford. David and a white woman, Sara Kent, fall in love, but David fears for their future as a mixed-race couple in America. David chooses to practice international law and serve abroad as a diplomat. But the death – perhaps murder – of his grandfather brings David back to New Orleans, where he is plunged into the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement and takes a leadership role. Tragedy ensues.[1][2][3]
Fairbairn's experience managing the national and international tours of jazz clarinetist George Lewis provided the background and impetus for writing this, her first novel.[4]
The book title comes from the biblical story of
Five Smooth Stones, of epic length (more than 900 pages), was a Literary Guild selection in 1967.[6] Kirkus Reviews describes the novel as "readable" but decries "its utter predictability" and opines that "the characters are unrememberable; as writing, it is unremarkable", but nevertheless "it dramatizes and empathizes the experience of a minority in a way which will reach the majority".[3] Wilma Dykeman, in The New York Times Book Review', described it as "richly realized" and "refreshing".[4]
References
- ^ "Five Smooth Stones". Goodreads. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
- ^ "Five Smooth Stones". Historical Novel Society. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
- ^ a b "Five Smooth Stones – Kirkus Review". Kirkus. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
- ^ a b "Ann Fairbairn, Author, was 70". New York Times. February 11, 1972. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
- ^ "1 Samuel 17:40". BibleHub. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
- ^ "Ann Fairbairn (1902–1972)". Library Thing. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
Editions
- Fairbairn, Ann (1966). Five Smooth Stones. New York: Crown. ISBN 9780517506875.
- Fairbairn, Ann (1977). Five Smooth Stones. Bantam. ISBN 9780553107692.
- Fairbairn, Ann (2009). Five Smooth Stones. Rediscovered Classics. Chicago: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 9781556528156.