Hi Everyone!
I am excited to be here today with a guest post from Jacqueline Friedland. Please help me give her a warm welcome to the blog :)
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Finding
the Light
Have you ever had “The Bill Cosby
Argument”? It could equally be called
“The Harvey Weinstein Debate” or the “Kevin Spacey Question”. Imagine the following conversation.
You:
“I loved Bill Cosby as an actor.
Even though he was accused of such heinous crimes, if you consider his
acting ability as a separate part of his persona, he was incredible.”
Your Friend: “But you can’t separate it. Bill Cosby, ‘the actor’, is the same person
as Bill Cosby, ‘the alleged sexual predator’. You can’t ignore the allegations of cruelty
and depravity simply because he was capable of beautiful art.”
This same argument can be applied to
American history. Looking in particular
at the American South during the early to mid-1800s, there is a stark dichotomy
between the beauty and the atrocities of the era. One cannot romanticize the opulence of the
time period without also acknowledging the barbarous nature of the system that
kept such prosperity and abundance afloat.
These thoughts were the impetus for Trouble the Water. So many books and movies depict the
antebellum South as a wonderland of hoop skirts and plantation parties without
getting into the ugliness that was rampant beneath this gilded veneer. I wanted to write a story that would not ignore
the horrid nature of the system in which one set of people was luxuriating
while others were suffering so brutally.
To my surprise, as I began researching
and formulating ideas, I did discover a bright light, something which I
actually could separate out from the repulsiveness of slavery: The grace and decency of people who risked
everything to fight, to help the innocent escape, to guide others to
freedom. Thus was born my character,
Douglas Elling, the tragic hero who loses everything in his effort to help
others.
Although the U.S. government outlawed
importation of slaves in the early 1800s, kidnappers continued to abduct
Africans and bring them to the States with little interference. Douglas Elling sees this lax enforcement and
decides to take matters into his own hands.
He forms the Blackbirder Blockade, a group of courageous men who take to the open water and
intercept slave ships. Unfortunately,
the South was a dangerous place for abolitionists, especially those who got too
big for their britches. With a harsh
dose of reality, Douglas learns that valor and social conscience can come with a
heavy price. He ends up in a dark and
defeated place.
Trouble
the Water begins when Douglas is at his bleakest point and explores the
ways in which a fallen hero might claw his way back to a place of optimism and
ambition. Thankfully, Abigail Milton
enters his life, and through her own tortured past, she manages to convince him
that being true to his ideals is the only way for him to survive. The journey these two characters take
together shows that even in the dreariest times, there can be moments of
brilliance and delight.
*************
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Jacqueline
Friedland holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from NYU Law
School. She practiced as an attorney in New York before returning to school to
receive her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. She lives in New York with her
husband, four children, and a tiny dog. TROUBLE THE WATER (SparkPress) is her
first novel. Visit her online at o https://jacquelinefriedland.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/jackie.b.friedland.
Happy Reading!
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