Blanche Boyd pens new novel
The third and final installment of a trilogy brings a surprising and satisfying conclusion to a decades-long story.
Nearly three decades ago, readers were introduced to Ellen Burns, the central character in what would ultimately become a trilogy of novels written by Blanche Boyd, the Roman and Tatiana Weller Professor of English. Now, the third and final installment, Tomb of the Unknown Racist, is bringing a surprising and satisfying conclusion to that story.
Boyd, an award-winning author who also serves as 51吃瓜黑料鈥檚 writer-in-residence, used the first two books as vehicles to explore issues relating to southern culture, racial discrimination and the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 鈥�70s through Ellen鈥檚 narration. In the new novel, Boyd shows the consequences of Ellen鈥檚 turbulent past in political activism and adds a new mysterious twist to her family story. The result is moving and wildly original, and despite being a work of fiction, also offers a chillingly realistic portrayal of family dysfunction that spans several tumultuous eras of American history.
After spending 20 years away from Ellen鈥檚 world, the author admits she approached the final book with some initial trepidation.
鈥淚t had been so long, I wasn鈥檛 entirely sure I could get back into it,鈥� Boyd said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a musician who takes a lot of time off and has to ease back into things by playing basic scales.鈥�
Time has passed for Ellen, too. Tomb picks up her story in 1999; after a long struggle with substance abuse, she鈥檚 now sober and caring for her disabled mother in South Carolina. After hearing some news that her white supremacist brother, believed to have died a decade earlier, may actually still be alive, Ellen joins forces with her niece in an effort to track him down. Along the way, she gains a front-row seat to the growing racial strife enveloping the country, and uncovers some dark secrets about her family.
While Boyd believes the trilogy is more powerful when read in order, she intentionally wrote each book in a way that allows them to stand on their own.
鈥淚t was technically fascinating to make each book work independently, and it鈥檚 something that I had first become interested in trying back in graduate school,鈥� Boyd said. 鈥淏ut for my first two novels I hadn鈥檛 yet found my voice or my footing.鈥�
Boyd said she came into her own as a writer while working at the Village Voice in New York during the 1980s, where she wrote pieces of 鈥渁utobiographical journalism鈥� that often revisited her experiences growing up in South Carolina and her exposure to structural racism. Today, she teaches a course on narrative nonfiction storytelling that incorporates much of what she learned from that stage of her career.
Like most writers, Boyd is also informed by her personal experiences. She, like Ellen, is a recovering addict, and helps run two New London sober houses for women in properties she鈥檚 owned for years. Even after 36 years of sobriety, Boyd鈥檚 past struggles help lend a level of realism to the trilogy. But despite the fact that she identifies with many aspects of Ellen鈥檚 character, the books certainly aren鈥檛 autobiographical.
鈥淚鈥檓 more like Ellen Burns than anybody else, but I鈥檓 not her,鈥� Boyd explained. 鈥淚 want her story to feel like it鈥檚 all true, but it鈥檚 not all true. I blend fact and fiction in my novels, and that鈥檚 part of what makes them feel authentic to my readers. Ellen鈥檚 arc spans several decades, but the racial issues this book addresses are as real and as important today as they ever were.鈥�
