The Mercy Seat

A clairvoyant child whose gift makes her the object of a tug-of-war between Christians and Native Americans in 1880s Oklahoma ignites a blood feud between her father and her bootlegging uncle. A first novel. 25,000 first printing. Tour.

Oklahoma native Askew follows the spare, haunting stories of her debut collection, Strange Business (1992), with a wrenching Cain-and-Abel first novel set in a vividly realized 19th-century American West. In 1886, brothers John and (La) Fayette ``Fate'' Lodi make a hurried move from their Kentucky homeland to the promise of new land and a new start in Oklahoma's Indian Territory. Their story is initially narrated by John's ten-year-old daughter Mattie, who knows it is her uncle's dishonest dealings that have forced their move, and also intuits ``the brotherness that would not let them love one another nor unbind themselves.'' This troubled union dominates the rest of their days and precipitates the violent climax toward which the novel inexorably moves. Askew shifts adroitly among Mattie's narration, the ``testimony'' of other family and neighbors, and an omniscient over-voice (reminiscent of that in Faulkner's novels) that effectively summarizes and interprets actions that their participants only partially understand. The hardships endured during the Lodis' journey westward establish the pattern for a succession of beautifully developed extended scenes, including the wasting away and sudden death (from homesickness and heartbreak) of Mattie's mother, Mattie's own exhausted efforts to mother her younger siblings (most strikingly, her confrontation with a black wet-nurse she accuses of ``witching'' her baby sister), her ``spells'' and their relation to Mattie's belief in the world of spirits, and the climactic action that separates and will eventually, ironically, reunite the troubled brothers. Askew excels at indirect characterization: Her portrayals (entirely through others' eyes) of John Lodi's patient, stoical forbearance (he's a skilled gunsmith, who turns his weapons, as it were, into ploughshares) and his brother Fate's mean, shifty criminality are marvelously concise yet full-blooded. And Mattie is simply one of the most engaging and heartbreaking characters in contemporary fiction. Reminiscent of the work of Elizabeth Madox Roberts and perhaps Wright Morris's Plains Song. A magnificent debut novel. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Eleven-year-old Mattie Lodi narrates most of this story about the utter destruction of her family, which begins in 1888 when her renegade uncle's criminal activities force the family to leave their native Kentucky for the wild, lawless Indian Territory. By the time they settle in Oklahoma, Mattie's mother and sister are dead, her brother is brain-damaged, and her father has withdrawn into impenetrable silence. Then a violent feud begins to stew between him and his brother. Mattie tries to hold her family together but eventually becomes the catalyst for the bloody climax to the feud. Askew (Strange Business, Viking 1993) also weaves Native and Christian spiritualities into the fabric of this Cain-and-Abel tale. The novel's weakness is the inconstancy in narration; Mattie's voice is so strong and true that other narrators pale in comparison, which causes confusion. The strength of the novel is Askew's rich, gritty detailing of frontier life. Recommended for historical fiction collections.?Editha Ann Wilberton, Kansas City P.L., Kan.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Askew's first novel is powerful, original, and beautifully written. Set mostly in Arkansas in the late 1800s, it explores human nature and the nature of evil, and like biblical stories, Greek tragedies, or the plays of Shakespeare, it shows how seemingly small decisions can reshape the course of events, turning normal circumstances into tragedy. Brothers John and Lafayette Lodi have always been close, but underneath the surface lie hidden jealousies and a bitter rivalry. A dispute over a patent infringement forces the two brothers to leave their native Kentucky and head for Indian Territory, but on the journey, the first and most vivid piece of the tragedy falls into place. John's wife dies. After that, death and despair haunt the family as they slide down a dangerous and destructive slope toward the cataclysmic event that will finally complete their story. Told mostly in the voice of Mattie, John's eldest daughter, the novel is bleak, dark, and moving, peopled with vivid characters and filled with compelling details and poetically rendered narrative. Highly recommended. Emily Melton