Tag Archives: Anna Jean Mayhew

‘The Dry Grass Of August’, By ‘Anna Jean Mayhew’ — A Wonderful Story That Deftly Portrays 1950s Racism In Georgia & S. Carolina.

Leave a reply

by Anura Guruge
on April 19, 2022

Follow Anura Guruge on WordPress.com

Click image to access the Amazon listing for this marvelous book.

As I alluded yesterday on my post about ‘zippers’ I have been listening to this marvelous book, with great relish, for the last few days. I thoroughly enjoyed it & as it was getting towards the end I wished that it would go on for a bit longer. Always a bang up recommendation.

Quite the story. Told with a really pleasing, deft touch — breezy, but detail-packed. She, Mrs. Anna Jean Mayhew, is quite the writer. Bravo.

Click to ENLARGE and read here. Link to this page.

One of the drawbacks of listening to a book on (the excellent) ‘Audible‘ is that you don’t get a chance to see & study the author. It tells you the author’s name (& copyright) but that is it. Of course, there is no photo you can see & they don’t include anything about the author. So, since she was new to I, I had no idea who she was. I wasn’t sure of her race. Yes, the book is in the first person & that narrator is a v. mature & sensitive 13-year white young lady. But, I was NOT sure whether the authoress was black. Her handling of race — or the difficulties & conflicts thereof — are masterful. Wow.

I see the book has worn awards & she is quite rightly lauded. That is due. She did good.

Great book. I thoroughly recommend it.

I will put it alongside ‘The Pecan Man‘ by ‘Cassie Dandridge Selleck’ & ‘The Book of Harlan‘ by ‘Bernice McFadden’, two other recent books I listened to which also dealt with race in the U.S., as a book that really made an impression with I. Thank YOU, Mrs. Mayhew. Yes, I will listen to your latest book “Tomorrow’s Bread“.

I Had Not Realized That Men’s Pants Had Zippers Back In The Early 1950s.

Leave a reply

by Anura Guruge
on April 18, 2022

Follow Anura Guruge on WordPress.com

Click to ENLARGE. Wikipedia link.

As I have often posted on this blog, I, for the last year or so, listen to 2 hours of an audio book, via Amazon’s ‘Audible‘, during my daily, 4-mile morning walk.

I am currently listening, with great pleasure, to “Anna Jean Mayhew’s” debut novel “The Dry Grass of August“. I plan to do a post about it when I am done. I still have about 90-minutes left (& I will be sad when it is over). Very well written & quite the story.

This morning she happened to mention a man (the protagonist’s dad) walking up from under a pier pulling up his zipper. That was in August 1954. I was 11-months old.

I had NOT realized that zippers were in common use in the U.S. in 1954. We sure did not get them in Ceylon till the 1960s. So, I thought that this might have been an anachronism. I made a mental note to check when I was on my PC. I did. I found the above. So, it was not an oversight. She had got it right. (I am glad).

Well, something else I learnt — & that always makes me happy, i.e., learning something new every day.