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Title details for Voodoo Dreams by Jewell Parker Rhodes - Available

Voodoo Dreams

A Novel of Marie Laveau

#1 in series

by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Peter Francis James
Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
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2 of 2 copies available
Spanning six decades of the 1800s, this mesmerizing story is a fictional biography of Marie Laveau—one of the most haunting characters in New Orleans' history. Part of a long line of voodoo priestesses and healers, Marie tells of the mystery, passion, and violence that pattern her life. Like her grandmother, Marie sees visions from an early age. She never knew her mother, who practiced a spiritualism so potent she was murdered by those who feared her. When Marie becomes a healer, she discovers a supernatural force that can channel the power of her ancestors. But it is a ferocious force driven by both life and death. Author Jewell Parker Rhodes has been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts and is a professor of American literature and creative writing at Arizona State University.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Marie Laveau Mystery

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 8, 2002

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781449884499
      • File size: 665404 KB
      • Duration: 23:06:15

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 16, 1995
      NEA Fiction Award winner Rhodes's first novel brings to life a legendary 19th-century voodoo priestess.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      The power of voodoo and its ability to survive one who would use this for his own glorification lies at the core of this fictionalized biography of Marie Lauveau. Touching on racial imbalances in 1800 New Orleans, it focuses on bringing alive a religious tradition that took root in the New World by being passed from mother to daughter. Peter Francis James's voice is filled with the power of his characters. The melodic cadences of West African speech, the flat accent of a transplanted Yankee, and the drawl of the white, decadent native of New Orleans are just some of the techniques he uses to set his characters apart and enliven the story. James catches the essence of the frenzied worship of Lauveau's followers as they chant her name. He portrays the fear and insecurities of this voodoo queen, who grows from a young girl unsure of her power to a powerful woman. This production gives the listener the pleasure of hearing a powerful and intriguing story read by a master. J.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 4, 1993
      NEA Fiction Award-winner Rhodes introduces a fearsome heroine and comments on the slave trade in an astute, evocative first novel based on the life of an actual voodoo priestess. From the age of 10, Creole girl Marie Laveau has visions of voodoo rites, yet her grandmother, who raised her, refuses to explain these supernatural occurrences. ``Grandmere'' wants to protect Marie, whose maternal lineage includes many dangerous voodoo queens, but her secretiveness only makes the girl resentful and curious. When they move from their secluded country home to New Orleans in 1819, Marie fulfills her destiny, forsaking her kindly husband on their wedding night to conduct ceremonies in which she's possessed by her dead mother's ghost and by the god Damballah. Rhodes eschews literary aspirations in favor of steamy, violent interludes worthy of a bodice-ripper--an abolitionist who loves Marie from afar, an incestuous relationship between aristocratic twins--but her insightfulness about black heritage, antebellum history and gender roles raises the tale well above the norm. Melodramatic yet mesmerizing, it effectively synthesizes the twin themes of female and African American empowerment.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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