ECHOES OF OUR ANCESTORS

Vicars presents a family saga that focuses on cycles of violence from the Civil War era to the present day.

Philip Richards is at the Hilltop bar in Culmine, Texas, contemplating getting the dinner special, when he’s confronted by a woman named Carmen, whom he struggles to recall. She brings up a recent encounter between them and asks him about a mysterious “Valentine’s night promise.” It turns out that he frequently has blackouts while drunk and has stretches of lost time in his past. After his ill father dies, 35-year-old Philip finally faces the family that he’s avoided since he left home at age 15; it’s revealed that his grandfather had sexually abused his sister, Dinah, and that the family refused to acknowledge it. In his father’s home, he finds a manuscript—which may or may not be fiction—written by his father’s great uncle, Sabine Richards; the story involves Philip’s great-great grandfather Russell and an enslaved woman named Feevah. Philip and his new lover, Edith, plan to read the text and contemplate the long history of racism, sexual assault, and violence in his family; she believes that Sabine, too, “longs to understand his own family history.” Soon afterward, Philip gets into a fight with a stranger whom he thinks is sexually assaulting Carmen; after the police arrive, however, the stranger and Carmen falsely accuse Philip of rape and assault. In this emotionally resonant novel, Vicars expertly weaves together past and present events to construct a portrait of a troubled family. The narrative combines elements of mysteries and historical fiction, while also developing realistic relationships that feel authentic. The transitions between the past and present accounts are sometimes abrupt, but it offers readers welcome respites while never abandoning the essential plot. Readers may question the role of characters who are portrayed as seducers and manipulators; however, the novel as a whole expertly portrays the effects of assault and violence.

A well-crafted, suspenseful novel that highlights difficult historical themes.