Shelby Foote’s magnificently orchestrated novel anticipates much of the subject matter of his monumental Civil War trilogy, rendering the clash between North and South with a violence all the more shocking for its intimacy. Love in a Dry Season describes an erotic and economic triangle, in which two wealthy and fantastically unhappy Mississippi families—the Barcrofts and the Carrutherses—are joined by an open-faced fortune hunter from the North, a man whose ruthlessness is matched only by his inability to understand the people he tries to exploit and his fatal incomprehension of the passions he so casually ignites. Combining a flawless sense of place with a Faulknerian command of the grotesque, Foote’s novel turns a small cotton town into a sexual battleground as fatal as Vicksburg or Shiloh—and one where strategy is no match for instinct and tradition.
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"Masterful story telling that transports the reader to the South. The characters are disdainful and provoke pity at once for their complete lack of empathy and insight, so caught up are they in their own motives. The strategic irony which sums up the ending is brilliant. " — Rose (4 out of 5 stars)
"Masterful story telling that transports the reader to the South. The characters are disdainful and provoke pity at once for their complete lack of empathy and insight, so caught up are they in their own motives. The strategic irony which sums up the ending is brilliant. "
“Shelby Foote ably fashions a drama as modern as today’s newspaper, as old as Mosaic law.”
“A fascinating drama...the atmosphere is superbly managed; and on every score, this is a first-rate job of story-telling.”
“With impeccable detail, Foote delves into the moral decay of the American moneyed class. [Grover Gardner’s] performance lends an amused presence to Foote’s scenario. [Gardner] precisely captures Jeff and Amy’s pretense of virtue, the Major’s disdain for those he considers below him, and the fading values of the next and future generations.”
“Shrewdly contrived and skillfully executed.”
" Foote is a skilled writer and great at character development. However, the plot is not very interesting and the characters show no redeeming qualities. A missed opportunity. "
" Masterful story telling that transports the reader to the South. The characters are disdainful and provoke pity at once for their complete lack of empathy and insight, so caught up are they in their own motives. The strategic irony which sums up the ending is brilliant. "
" Definitely engrossing, in the way that eccentric, wealthy, and largely unlikeable characters tend to be. The narration is suitably caustic, though a real affection for the Deep South is readily apparent. "
" The audio file was corrupt so that I couldn't listen to the end of the story. The tone of this story is languid and sad. The characters are deep, interesting creatures of their time and environment. I will definitely need to finish this one sometime. "
" Southern gothic at its best. Part of me wants to say it's all very cliche and part of me wants to admit it sounds like a story from my hometown. Obviously, I'm conflicted. "
" I did not like this book. I like stories that slowly unfold and leave you guessing what happened to the characters before you arrived. Sadly this book was all expositions and descriptions. "
" I loved this book with its strange group of characters. The heat and humidity of the south made it that much more intoxicating. One of my favorite southern novels! "
" I really enjoyed this book. I liked the way Shelby Foote wrote and the story held my attention. I would have liked more closure at the end but overall I still thoroughly enjoyed it. "
" It's full of quirky southern characters trying to survive a dismal life. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of them and the book is a little short on plot. "
" Known primarily for his history of the Civil War, Shelby Foote was also a very fine novelist. This book was a revelation for me, both of Foote's talents as a fiction writer and of a South I'd not encountered in anyone else's books. "
" Mighty good story telling; kept me connected throughout. "
" I could not get interested in this book. "
" Not as good as his nonfiction. Too much narrative. "
Shelby Foote (1916–2005) was an American historian and novelist who came from a long line of Mississippians. After attending the University of North Carolina, he served in World War II as a captain of field artillery in the European theater. He wrote six novels and was awarded three Guggenheim Fellowships in the twenty-year course of writing his monumental three-volume history, The Civil War: A Narrative.
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.
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