Eden, Ohio.

by Shawne Johnson Dutton [Penguin Group], February 2004 $23.95, ISBN 0-525-94810-4

This novel explores the lives of people whose histories are bound together by their secrets and by their remarkable gifts. Johnson uses her trademark lyrical prose to explore both the power and vulnerability of a town founded by 12 slaves in search of freedom.

"There were twelve first families in the year 1860, skin brown and blue black and deep red and high yellow. They walked fast through thorny underbrush with only the stars to guide, the moon to give light. Branches scratched at skin, left tender blood-red welts, bare feet swollen and bruised, soles hard and callused," writes Johnson, about the people who founded Eden, Ohio, trader the leadership of Matriarch Eliza.

The novel is beautifully written, although the prose is difficult to follow at times. The undercurrent of the amnesia and violence that seems to envelope Eden's descendants, to the point where it belies the town's initial reason for being, develops into an interesting tale about truths, including those which are historical, spiritual, emotional, political, and ultimately, ancestral. This book is for those who enjoy a plunge into the mystical, majestic, and redemptive world of a people struggling to understand and accept their roots.

Monique W. Morris is working with Kemba Smith on Smith's autobiography.