My favorite books are ones that speak to my heart and head, ones that make me think but also affect my emotions. The Story of Land and Sea is one of these books. With lucid prose, historical and cultural accuracy, and a set of complex yet relatable characters, this debut novel from Jackson native Katy Simpson Smith has been one of the best I’ve read this year.
The novel’s plot follows three generations—John and Helen, their daughter Tabitha, and Helen’s father Asa—as their lives twine and separate and twine together again. Set in coastal North Carolina soon after the revolutionary war, the story’s themes of struggle and discovery mirror our then-fledgling nation’s obstacles of defining itself as something other than a former colony. But it’s more than just a parable for our country: the characters are so compelling and relatable, even for readers seated comfortably nearly four centuries later. John, the center of most of the plots, is a former pirate who marries Helen, daughter of the wealthy landowner Asa. Rather than falling into the trappings of cliché, Smith keeps the plot believable by focusing on the characters’ personalities, all of whom are likable, relatable, yet capable of much unsavoriness. (I’m being vague on purpose. If you want to know what happens, you’ll need to come buy a copy).
The cultural and historical accuracy of this story is another place my affinity rests. Smith has a PhD in history from UNC, and she applies her knowledge of early America without turning the novel into a textbook. The sentences themselves flow so easily, I found myself lost in the beauty of the writing several times. Here’s an example, focusing on the wedding of John and Helen:
The marriage takes place in the summer, among the heaved-up roots of the live oak, the lone tree that curves over the front lawn, bend and contorted to the shapes the easterly wind made. Moll [a slave] fidgets in a yellow linen dress with two petticoats and holds a spray of goldenrod that she pulled from the back garden; no one else had thought to.
With writing this good, it makes sense that one of the central images in the book is water. Like water, this story, its characters, and its words are fluid and powerful.
Join us tonight at 5:00 for a discussion and signing for The Story of Land and Sea with Katy Simpson Smith and fellow author and historian Suzanne Marrs!
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