10 h 11 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a stifling sickroom, a proud man fears losing both his wife and the future of his family name.
Major Carteret waits beside Olivia as a dangerous childbirth threatens their long hope for a child. Outside, frogs and cicadas break the stillness; inside, magnolias scent the air. His newspaper, the Morning Chronicle, gives him political power, but none of that influence can ease his fear.
Downstairs, Dr. Price listens as Jane, the Black nurse who once cared for Olivia, recalls the household’s past. Her story brings forward Polly Ochiltree and a struggle over who controls the home. In The Marrow of Tradition, Charles W. Chesnutt explores race, power, and justice in the South after Reconstruction.
What you’ll discover
- An anxious bedside vigil Feel the strain as Carteret holds Olivia’s hand and waits through the oppressive heat.
- Pride behind political power Meet a newspaper owner whose public influence rests on his wife’s wealth.
- A nurse’s long memory Listen to Jane connect the present crisis with old tensions inside Olivia’s family.
- A household power struggle Watch Polly demand authority over the home and insist that its housekeeper, Julia, leave.
- Race and private loyalties Consider how care, dependence, and unequal power share space within a single household.
Who will love it
For readers who love gripping novels about race, power, and justice in the post-Reconstruction South.
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The Marrow of Tradition
by Charles W. Chesnutt · 1901
In the post-Reconstruction South, race and power put justice at stake.
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The author
Charles W. Chesnutt
1858–1932 · American novelist and story writer
Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932) was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and activist. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, grew up in North Carolina, and returned to Cleveland in 1883. He published The Conjure Woman in 1899, The House Behind the Cedars in 1900, and The Marrow of Tradition in 1901.
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