false 67 15 Set in Manchester County, Virginia, 20 years before the Civil War began, Edward P. Jones's debut novel, <I>The Known World</I>, is a masterpiece of overlapping plot lines, time shifts, and heartbreaking details of life under slavery. Caldonia Townsend is an educated black slaveowner, the widow of a well-loved young farmer named Henry, whose parents had bought their own freedom, and then freed their son, only to watch him buy himself a slave as soon as he had saved enough money. Although a fair and gentle master by the standards of the day, Henry Townsend had learned from former master about the proper distance to keep from one's property. After his death, his slaves wonder if Caldonia will free them. When she fails to do so, but instead breaches the code that keeps them separate from her, a little piece of Manchester County begins to unravel. Impossible to rush through, <I>The Known World</I> is a complex, beautifully written novel with a large cast of characters, rewarding the patient reader with unexpected connections, some reaching into the present day. <I>--Regina Marler</I> The story of Henry Townsend, a black farmer and former slave who falls under the tutelage of William Robbins, the most powerful man in Manchester County, Virginia. Making certain he never circumvents the law, Townsend runs his affairs with unusual discipline. But when death takes him unexpectedly, his widow, Caldonia, can't uphold the estate's order and chaos ensues. 1062798 2003 The Known World total:6385|5:44|4:68|3:50|2:19|1:7| 6385 24036 9565 1035 4 4 false false Wed May 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 26 10:15:18 -0700 2008 Wed May 21 10:09:18 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 6 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 22:47:36 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 11 23:16:38 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 4 false false Mon Feb 04 11:40:26 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 10:26:30 -0800 2008
Jones packs in all the historical detail you could want, and of course he's hit on a subject--black slaveowners--that in and of itself is tabloid-sensational. Where lesser writers migh...more...]]> 4 3 false false Sun Apr 06 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 07 08:52:50 -0800 2008 Sun Apr 06 15:48:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Jan 10 18:11:53 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 10 18:14:26 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Sep 22 13:15:50 -0700 2007 Sat Sep 22 13:16:56 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 29 12:54:05 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 29 13:23:30 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 3 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed May 30 08:27:54 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 23 11:38:32 -0700 2007
The narration was told in a sweeping way that I'm sure was intended to sound like an oral history. I was willing to ignore my annoyance at not being able to gauge exactly ...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Mon Dec 17 12:00:19 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 17 12:03:09 -0800 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Feb 03 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 08:24:53 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 08:49:58 -0800 2009 The Known World tells of the lives of characters living in the fictional county of Manchester, Virginia in 1855. At the center of the story is the plantation of Henry Townsend, a freed slave now with slaves of his own, and the conflicts and moral dilemmas facing the small gr...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Jun 02 10:02:19 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 16 08:28:19 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Jan 14 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Oct 09 13:42:27 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 14 19:16:28 -0800 2009 3 2 false true Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 26 09:42:54 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 26 09:44:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Jun 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 10:03:52 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 06 10:54:16 -0700 2009 2 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Jul 24 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Sat Jul 26 23:24:04 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 26 23:26:14 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Feb 07 20:36:56 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 26 12:48:15 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 07 17:41:20 -0800 2008
The author brings two wonderful touches to his writing style: 1) a practice of sometime...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Oct 24 16:42:58 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 24 16:46:51 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Fri Aug 31 11:07:47 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 31 11:15:40 -0700 2007 Edward P. Jones' Bold Vision of "The Known World"

This story would have been exciting enough based only on the fact that Edward P. Jones so boldly took the antebellum novel to a place it has never gone before; namely, to black slave-owner Henry Townsend's plantation in Man...more...]]> 2 2 false false Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Apr 26 07:50:15 -0700 2007 Thu Apr 26 07:50:55 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 17 11:32:40 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 11:34:28 -0700 2009