Blood & Whiskey #22
De'Shawn Charles Winslow's Decent People; Marianne Wiggins's Properties of Thirst; Lawrence Osborne's On Java Road. Plus how to make a "Half and Half" and Neal the Grand Marshall.
Hello friends and readers,
Happy St. Patty’s Day — or, if you prefer, St. Paddy’s Day.
I’ve got an Irish drink and some Irish books for you this month. But first…
Decent People, by De’Shawn Charles Winslow — It took me awhile to get the characters straight and to settle into the language, but once I did the story took off. Set in rural North Carolina, mid-70s, three siblings — including the town’s first Black doctor — are shot and killed in their home. The (lazy, white) police chalk it up to a drug deal. Jo Wright is back home from New York, and when her fiancée is rumored to have been involved in the murder, she starts to investigate. Winslow has meticulously and lovingly created these characters. He takes his time revealing their back stories and entanglement. Set in a time and place when it was not safe to be gay and barely safe to be Black, the story is packed with secret affairs, odd-couple friendships, gossip and ancient hatreds.
Properties of Thirst, by Marianne Wiggins — I’m surprised this one didn’t make more noise. Wiggins is a Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist (and, fwiw, Salman Rushdie’s ex). Here she tells the post-WWII story of a family battling the L.A. Water men who’ve come to their ranch looking for water for their city. Then more men arrive: they’re going to build a Japanese internment camp nearby. It’s swells into a sweeping family saga and the language is sumptuous.
On Java Road, by Lawrence Osborne — An expat Brit journalist in Hong Kong goes searching for the missing woman who’d had an affair with his wealthy college friend. The tone is moody and atmospheric, snarky and world weary. A slow burn in the best sense, with the right mix of history, politics, travelogue, and hints of Graham Greene. The star here is Hong King, edgy and unnerving.
Hidden Pictures, Jason Rekulak — I’m only a third through, and it’s fantastic and unsettling. In short: Mallory, 18 months sober, takes a job as nanny to a 5-year-old kid who draws terrifying and increasingly violent pictures. As an Instagram writer friend told me, the book “freaked me out.” I’ll share more next month.
Cocktail of the Month
Not a cocktail, exactly, but perfect for St. Patrick’s Day…
The Half and Half*
1/2 Harp
1/2 Guinness
Pour half (or so) a bottle of Harp (or Smithwicks) into a chilled beer glass (16 ounces is best). Try not to create too much head. Using a large spoon, pour the Guinness slowly over the back of the spoon so the stout rests on top of the lager.
Best served with a shot of Jameson, neat. Sláinte!
*Note this is not a Black and Tan, which uses Bass ale on the bottom. The Irish prefer Half and Halfs, since the term “Black and Tan” refers to the British soldiers of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) who beat the piss out of the Irish during their struggles toward independence in the early 1920s. As I explore a bit in my book, The First Kennedys, Ireland was long a British colony, treated like shite for centuries — the unwanted stepchild of the aristocracy, “the one weak place in the solid fabric of British power . . . a blot upon the brightness of British honor,” as Earl Grey once put it. “Ireland is our disgrace.” Jaysus. A crow’s curse on ye.
Speaking of Ireland and the Irish…
I was invited (by Seattle’s Irish Heritage Club) to be the Grand Marshall of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which was held last week. I’ve started wearing my sash to bed and requiring that my wife and kids call me Grand Marshall Neal.
(*side note: Mary came in #1 in her age group in the 5k run!)
A few more:
-Currently reading journalist/professor Fintan O’Toole’s excellent memoir, We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland.
-Over at the excellent What to Read If newsletter, Elizabeth Held recommends Did Ye Hear Mammy Died, journalist Seamus O’Reilly’s memoir of growing up with ten (10!) siblings in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
-On my radar: Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy, also set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Oprah Daily compares her to a few of my favorite writers: Colum McCann, Claie Keegan, and Kevin Barry.
-I just heard from a family friend back in North Carolina, Dale Pollack, who has a new book, Chopped, set in Boston in 1850 (and beyond), which explores the notorious Webster-Parkman murder trial.
-Also, though it’s not well reflected in this month’s books list, March is Women’s History Month. Last month’s newsletter is nicely packed with books by women.
-Watching: Daisy Jones and the Six — so far so good. Last of Us — whoa!
Thanks for reading. And if you’d like to support my writing about reading, which would help support my book buying (and support authors), consider…
Till next time,
-Neal
Find me on Instagram; sometimes on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Goodreads