About the Author

Novelist, essayist, and story writer Alan Cheuse has been described as "The Voice of Books on NPR." He has written three novels, including To Catch the Lightning, and a pair of novellas. He is also the editor of Seeing Ourselves: Great Early American Short Stories and co-editor of Writers' Workshop in a Book. He teaches writing at George Mason University. Visit www.alancheuse.com

Reviews

""'"Song of Slaves in the Desert"' is a Great American Novel in the most profound and important sense - a novel about the human experience of slavery in the American South... it is the work of a master storyteller." -Jonathan Kirsch, The Jewish Journal" - The Jewish Journal

""Alan Cheuse, in '"Song of Slaves in the Desert", ' uses language that is often spare and beautiful... Cheuse raises interesting questions about Jewishness and slavery and family and loyalty, and the ability of some men to justify not only their greed but also their baser instincts... [he] also deftly immerses us into the daily life of this plantation with wonderful details about rice farming and abortion and child bearing and slave trading and hunting, evoking the natural world, the heat and Southern heaviness with telling precision. And as Nate's and Liza's story unfolds, 'Song' builds to an urgency and wildness reminiscent of Faulkner's Compson novels... in the end his unflinching look at the vile consequences that resonate for generations from human slavery make 'Song' a novel to be savored, and remembered."-Boston Globe" - Boston Globe

""This is a brilliantly imagined story that will take the reader on a fascinating, meandering journey that leads to a confluence of two families from different cultures and religions, both experiencing bondage, determined to be free. Songs of Slaves in the Desert is an intoxicating piece of literature destined to achieve well-deserved acclaim." -Historical Novels Review " - Historical Novels Review

"An imaginative, multigenerational exploration of the world of Southern slavery...A complex, richly detailed story. " - Kirkus

"The tangled history of slavery and the enduring stain it left upon a nation founded on the principles of freedom and equality is evocatively illuminated." - Booklist

"'"Song of Slaves in the Desert"' is a Great American Novel in the most profound and important sense - a novel about the human experience of slavery in the American South... it is the work of a master storyteller." -Jonathan Kirsch, The Jewish Journal

"Alan Cheuse, in '"Song of Slaves in the Desert," ' uses language that is often spare and beautiful... Cheuse raises interesting questions about Jewishness and slavery and family and loyalty, and the ability of some men to justify not only their greed but also their baser instincts... [he] also deftly immerses us into the daily life of this plantation with wonderful details about rice farming and abortion and child bearing and slave trading and hunting, evoking the natural world, the heat and Southern heaviness with telling precision. And as Nate's and Liza's story unfolds, 'Song' builds to an urgency and wildness reminiscent of Faulkner's Compson novels... in the end his unflinching look at the vile consequences that resonate for generations from human slavery make 'Song' a novel to be savored, and remembered."-Boston Globe

"Cheuse is a prolific author... his energy, imagination and research are impressive."

"This is a brilliantly imagined story that will take the reader on a fascinating, meandering journey that leads to a confluence of two families from different cultures and religions, both experiencing bondage, determined to be free. Songs of Slaves in the Desert is an intoxicating piece of literature destined to achieve well-deserved acclaim." -Historical Novels Review

An imaginative, multigenerational exploration of the world of Southern slavery...A complex, richly detailed story.

I was pulled right in and put the book down only to sleep. Despite being five hundred pages long, SONG is so beautifully and clearly written that I lost myself to the book and finished reading it in twenty-four hours.

The tangled history of slavery and the enduring stain it left upon a nation founded on the principles of freedom and equality is evocatively illuminated.