My Mistress' Eyes Are Raven Black
My Mistress' Eyes Are Raven Black is a noir thriller set on Ellis Island in 1920. It explores just how far some human beings will go to protect racial purity and condemn those they fear.
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Dr. Terry Roberts is a former high school English teacher. He is practicing scholar of American Literature and Cultural Studies, with a strong penchant for the classics. He is fascinated by the social and intellectual power of dialogue to teach and to inspire. Terry is the lead author of several Paideia publications including The Power of Paideia Schools, The Paideia Classroom, and Teaching Thinking through Dialogue.
His debut novel, A Short Time to Stay Here, won the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction, and his second novel, That Bright Land, won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award as well as the James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South. Both novels won the annual Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction, given to the author of the best novel written by a North Carolinian. Born and raised near Weaverville, North Carolina, Roberts is the Director of the National Paideia Center and lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife, Lynn. He has three children: Jesse, Margaret, and Henry.
"[My Mistress' Eyes are Raven Black] is pure entertainment-think Raymond Chandler or, perhaps, an Appalachian James Lee Burke. At the same time, the book confronts the reader with important questions about American immigration policies and race. Set at Ellis Island in the early 1920s, it is nonetheless sharply relevant in today's America." --Wayne Caldwell, Author of Cataloochee
"Terry Roberts has a knack for exploring the forgotten corners of American history--and then shining a light on the moral ambiguities he finds there. And he knows how to tell a story. This one has all the right ingredients: fascinating setting, winning characters, mystery, real suspense, and romance. I thoroughly enjoyed it." --Julia Franks, Author of Over the Plain Houses
"Terry Roberts' new novel is a literary thriller of the highest order: lyrical and suspenseful, with characters you will long remember. This is a heart-pounding, timely, and completely immersive read. It's also Roberts' finest hour." --Silas House, author of Southernmost
"In My Mistress' Eyes Are Raven Black Terry Roberts expands his fictional world as never before, from the mountains of North Carolina to Ellis Island, the heart and soul of America. Roberts tells a story of mystery, intrigue, murder, bigotry, and romance. With homage to the masters of crime fiction, Cain, Thompson, Chandler, and the Hammett of The Thin Man, this novel has thrilling action, and humor, as it addresses both the racism and humanity in our culture, in 1920, and the present." --Robert Morgan, Author of Gap Creek and Chasing the North Star
My Mistress' Eyes Are Raven Black is a suspenseful and original historical novel--an amalgam of twisted psychologies and cloak-and-dagger nostalgia with a teasing, passionate romance." --Foreword Reviews (starred review)
Creating a 'page-turner' has always seemed to me to require something beyond writing. An author may be an excellent wordsmith, have brilliant ideas, and yet never achieve the deep understanding of human psychology or the precise timing and rhythm that is needed to hook a reader. My Mistress' Eyes Are Raven Black is a true page-turner." --The Southern Bookseller Review
"[My Mistress' Eyes are Raven Black] illuminates stereotypes and assumptions about who deserved to immigrate to America during this dark chapter of history." --Booklist
"[An] impressive historical thriller." --Publishers Weekly
"In My Mistress' Eyes Are Raven Black, Terry Roberts expertly blends the thriller and romance genres to tell a timely story about the terrifying extent to which some people will go to assuage their fear of 'the Other.' I couldn't put this book down." --Washington Independent Review of Books
"Part detective story, part romance, part social commentary, the book builds to a satisfying conclusion and leaves the reader to ponder the larger societal issues." --Historical Novel Society
