Reviews
KIRKUS Book Review
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"Southard offers a historical novel about the real-life Beecher-Tilton sex scandal, told from the perspective of the woman at its center.
The novel opens with Elizabeth Tilton on her deathbed in Brooklyn, New York, in 1897,reflecting on the defining moments of her life that still haunt her. In her infirmity, she struggles to recognize some of her children; she has no friends she can count on, as the choices she has made have turned her into a social pariah. In this state, she slips between the present and memories from about 30 years earlier. At the time, her husband, Theodore, was a prominent New York newspaper publisher and journalist who championed the rights of enslaved people and women and the doctrine of “free love.” Elizabeth was deeply involved in progressive reform and active in the liberal Plymouth Church, led by the renowned Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. Theodore and Elizabeth’s marriage was happy and collaborative; however, the death of their infant son, Paul, devastated them both. When Theodore confessed to a past affair, Elizabeth turned to Beecher for emotional comfort, which led to physical intimacy. Theodore, suspecting the liaison, began to publicly accuse Beecher of seducing his wife, throwing Elizabeth, Beecher, and himself into a scandal that stretched on for years, pushing them all to the brink of ruin. Over the course of this novel based on true events, Southard’s prose is gripping (“The glass feels icy cold to my fingers. Dry leaves are still swirling in the wind. Tears run down my cheeks, leaving droplets on the windowsill”), and the story is suitably elegiac, calling to mind many touchstonehistorical romances. The characters are well-defined and memorable, and include such prominent historical figures as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Readers will find themselves engrossed in the drama while also learning about a peripheral but compelling piece of American history.
A superbly written story of love, betrayal, and resistance in the face of crisis."
Foreword Clarion Review
A strong woman with a penchant for forgiveness navigates the tumult of her complicated relationships in the historical novel Unruly Human Hearts.
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"In Barbara Southard’s rousing historical novel Unruly Human Hearts, a woman navigates the challenges of the Reconstruction-era US.
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About the 1875 adultery trial involving Henry Beecher, Theodore Tilton, and Elizabeth Tilton, the story is told from Elizabeth’s intimate perspective. It covers her complex relationships with her pastor, Henry, and her husband, Theo. In a dreamlike flashback from her deathbed, she covers almost ten years of repeated turmoil and forgiveness in their love triangle, culminating in the dramatic public trial of Henry for adultery.
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The prose is direct about outlining Elizabeth’s thoughts and feelings, and its switches between 1897, when Elizabeth is on her deathbed, and the 1870s, when the core story takes place, are immersive on multiple levels. Period language is used for verisimilitude, and the tone is cozy. Details about the trio’s setting are also used to imbue the tragic story with warmth.
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The strength of Elizabeth’s character is at the novel’s core. There are moments of eroticism in which she exercises power and agency, refuting her husband’s claims that she was stupid and naive to fall for Henry’s seduction. Elizabeth is also the only one of the three to take responsibility for her actions. She wrestles with guilt and blames herself. She also reminds herself of the good within Henry and Theo, who are both willing to sacrifice Elizabeth to save their own reputations. Her penchant for forgiveness and understanding is conveyed as not a weakness but a strength, further solidifying Elizabeth’s heroine status.
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If forgiveness is one of the novel’s threads, the other is hypocrisy. Theo, who supports the suffrage movement, is somewhat self-serving; he advocates for free love and divorce for women so he can sleep with who he wants. In addition, his treatment of Elizabeth is domineering, as though she’s a lesser person, and this fails to align with his public claims toward equality. Henry displays hypocrisy as well, starting as a safe haven for Elizabeth but soon becoming just as manipulative as her husband. Elizabeth is forced to see how hypocrisy corrodes both interpersonal relationships and political action, resulting in added depth.
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Letters, court exchanges, and newspaper articles are copied verbatim from historical documents for context. And in addition to the central trio, there are other historical figures present, including Susan B. Anthony—herein a kind, understanding woman who, despite full knowledge of Elizabeth’s mistakes, helps her see her worth, easing the unfairness and hypocrisy coming from Henry and Theo. Such relationships punctuate the novel’s feminist themes.
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The riveting historical novel Unruly Human Hearts is sensitive in following a strong woman as she overcomes adversity."
Excerpts from the book review of The Pinch of the Crab and other stories
by Carmen Dolores Hernández, El Nuevo Día, February 13, 2022
The Book of Betrayals
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A married woman relives a terrible incident of her youth that her parents have chosen to ignore; a young woman discovers the true nature of the father who brought her up with love; a little boy faces violence—from animals, in the social environment, and that which lurks in the family—without really understanding what is happening; parents blame their son’s friend for corrupting him when the truth is quite the opposite.
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The ten stories in this book all revolve around betrayals. Especially painful betrayals that take place in the bosom of families that seem to be, if not happy, at least more or less normal. What provokes conflict is a change of perspective caused by failure to meet the usual expectations: parents who are not really protective; mothers who don’t turn out to be so dedicated: the bitter discovery that love is not as enduring or as absolute as expected. The flaw—the crack in the polished surface of conventional expectations—has been there from the beginning, invisible to trusting eyes.
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The story titled “Heavy Downpour” departs somewhat from this pattern. In this story, it is not the family or one of its members that betrays expectations of justice, but rather society itself that persecutes those who try to put justice into practice, threatening the established order by doing so. The character who appears in the house of a prosperous American housewife living in Puerto Rico, a friend from her rebellious youth, seems to present a threat to her and to the community, but that perception is erroneous. It is the political structure that betrays expectations of equity, justice and democracy. The issue is the political situation of Puerto Rico, apparently stable, although any challenge to this stability gives rise to institutional violence.
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Southard writes in simple, straightforward English. Her style does not draw attention in and of itself; rather, it serves as a filter that allows us to “read” not only the significance of the words but the intentions that hide behind them that are not immediately apparent to the interlocutors within the stories. Moreover, she is good at handling premonitions, and also surprises, as in the story Fallen Branches, in which the action seems to point in one direction, but culminates in an unexpectedly explosive outcome.
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(Translated from the original in Spanish with permission. See below for original in Spanish)
Reseñas
Reseña (Book Review) The Pinch of the Crab and other stories
Carmen Dolores Hernández: El Nuevo Dia, 13 de febrero de 2022
El libro de las traiciones
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Una mujer casada revive un incidente terrible de su juventud que sus padres han elegido ignorar; una joven descubre la verdadera personalidad del padre que la crió con cariño; un niño pequeño se enfrenta a la violencia -de los animales, del entorno social y la que irrumpe en la familia -sin entender bien lo que sucede; unos padres culpan a un amigo de su hijo por “corromperlo” cuando lo cierto es justamente lo contrario.
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Los diez cuentos de este libro giran todos en torno a traiciones. Son traiciones especialmente dolorosas que se dan en el seno de familias que parecen ser, si no felices, más o menos normales. Lo que provoca el conflicto es un cambio de perspectiva ocasionado por una falla de las expectativas habituales: los padres que no son, realmente, protectores; las madres que no resultan tan dedicadas; el amargo descubrimiento de que el amor no es tan duradero ni tan absoluto como lo esperado. La falla -la grieta en la superficie pulida de las expectativas convencionales- ha estado allí desde el principio, invisible para los ojos confiados.
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El cuento titulado “Heavy Downpour” se aparta un poco de este esquema. En él no es la familia ni uno de sus miembros lo que traiciona las expectativas de justicia sino la sociedad misma, que persigue a quien trata de practicar esa justicia, trastocando al hacerlo el orden establecido. El personaje que aparece en casa de una próspera ama de casa estadounidense radicada en Puerto Rico, un amigo de su juventud rebelde, parece presentar una amenaza, tanto para ella como para la colectividad, pero esa percepción está equivocada. El peligro real proviene de la sociedad establecida, que no provee las salvaguardas adecuadas para la vida y el progreso social. Es la estructura política la que traiciona las expectativas de equidad, justicia y democracia. El asunto se refiere a la situación política puertorriqueña, aparentemente estable, aunque cualquier amenaza a tal estabilidad suscite la violencia institucional.
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Barbara Southard, estadounidense que lleva muchos años en Puerto Rico, los más como profesora de la UPR, ha sabido penetrar tras el espejismo de las apariencias no solo individuales sino sociales. Sus cuentos, más que críticos, son revelatorios. El ambiente local -muy bien captado- presenta un espejo de la naturaleza humana en su modalidad puertorriqueña: la incapacidad de enfrentarse a la realidad, la necesidad de mantener las apariencias, las convenciones relativas a la familia. Son actitudes difícilmente discernibles para quienes están inmersos en la sociedad que las sustenta, pero quizás evidentes ante la mirada de afuera. La nuestra es una sociedad que se cree estable aunque la violencia -súbita, inesperada- se esconda tras las convenciones generalmente aceptadas.
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Southard escribe en un inglés directo y sencillo. Su estilo no llama la atención sobre sí; se trata más bien de un filtro que permite “leer” no solo los significados de las palabras sino las intenciones que se esconden tras ellas y que no son inmediatamente aparentes a los interlocutores de dentro de los cuentos mismos. Maneja bien, además, las premoniciones y también las sorpresas, como en el cuento “Fallen Branches”, cuya acción parece apuntar en una dirección para culminar con un estallido inesperado.
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Aunque Southard ha escrito varios libros de carácter histórico, entre ellos “Senderos para un sueño. Geografía e historia de Estados Unidos de América” (2000), con este volumen de cuentos se suma a la ya larga lista de escritores estadounidenses de ficción que han utilizado a Puerto Rico como escenario o motivación para su escritura, lista que incluye a Hunter S. Thompson y a Robert Friedman.