All God's Children
Finalist for the Reading the West Book Award for Fiction
A novel about the remarkable people living on the edge of freedom and slavery, All God's Children brings to life the paradoxes of the American frontier - a place of liberty and bondage, wild equality, and cruel injustice.
In 1827, Duncan Lammons, a disgraced young man from Kentucky, sets out to join the American army in the province of Texas, hoping that here he may live - and love - as he pleases. That same year, Cecelia, a young slave in Virginia, runs away for the first time.
Soon infamous for her escape attempts, Cecelia drifts through the reality of slavery - until she encounters frontiersman Sam Fisk, who rescues her from a slave auction in New Orleans.
In spite of her mistrust, Cecelia senses an opportunity for freedom, and travels with Sam to Texas, where he has a homestead. In this new territory, where the law is an instrument for the cruel and the wealthy, they begin an unlikely life together, unaware that their fates are intertwined with those of Sam's former army mates including Duncan Lammons, a friend - and others who harbor dangerous dreams of their own.
This novel will take its place among the great stories that recount the country's fight for freedom - one that makes us want to keep on with the struggle.
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Aaron Gwyn is the author of three novels. His fiction has appeared in his story collection Dog on the Cross, finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award; and numerous magazines and anthologies such as Esquire, McSweeney's, Best of the West, and Every True Pleasure: LGBTQ Tales of North Carolina. He is associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where he teaches fiction writing and American literature.
Praise for Aaron Gwyn:
"Aaron Gwyn claims his place among the ranks of great American novelists with this richly drawn historical epic. A masterpiece."--Philipp Meyer, author of The Son
"Mr. Gwyn depicts the eventful mission with tight dramatic control and a flair for suspenseful twists, and the same ambiguities that surround John Wayne's ruthlessly single-minded Ethan Edwards."--The Wall Street Journal
"In Gwyn's expert hands, nothing, including good or evil, is ever so simple."--Caroline Leavitt, The Boston Globe
"The book's pacing is cinematic, and it echoes adrenalized silver-screen war stories like "Three Kings" and "The Hurt Locker," as well as the gentler cross-species concerns of "The Horse Whisperer."--John Williams, The New York Times
"A work of narrative alchemy, a prose smelter brimming with horses, soldiers, heroism, villainy, horrific violence and unexpected tenderness. ... If you find tear stains on your shoulders when you turn the last page, they are likely yours, shed out of the sadness that only comes when you wish there were pages left to turn."--The Houston Chronicle
"Dog on the Cross is a gripping tale of men at war, and captures the essence of close combat--the terror, excitement, chaos, tension, and cruelty, as well as the harsh decisions men make under stress...its gritty realism is part of the strength." --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
