A Cry of Absence
1989
First Published
3.37
Average Rating
288
Number of Pages
In a 1987 article, Southern Magazine called Madison Jones' A Cry of Absence "the last pure tragedy written by a Southerner." Set in 1957 in a small Tennessee town just awakening to shifting racial and social attitudes, the novel concerns the inevitability of change and the consequences for those who resist it. Hester Cameron Glenn, a proud, well-bred southern aristocrat, is the self-appointed guardian of her family's and her community's heritage. When a young black man is chained to a tree and stoned to death, Hester deplores the brutality of the act. Slowly she comes to suspect, and finally to know, who the real murderer is, and she decides what she must do to protect the family honor.
Avg Rating
3.37
Number of Ratings
41
5 STARS
12%
4 STARS
37%
3 STARS
29%
2 STARS
20%
1 STARS
2%
goodreads
Author
Madison Jones
Author · 5 books
Madison Percy Jones was a novelist from Nashville, Tennessee. He published almost a dozen novels in his lifetime, and is considered "one of the major figures of contemporary southern letters."
