A Savage Wisdom
by Norman German
Summary
A Savage Wisdom is inspired by the life, crimes and legends of Annie Beatrice McQuiston aka Toni Jo Henry, the only woman executed in Louisiana’s electric chair. The author uses the actual names and aliases of the murderess and the fact that the killing took place on Valentine’s Day, 1940.
German’s novel is a stark, page-turning re-creation, rich with detail and imagery where intimacy and deception flow into a chilling tragedy. The author’s historical inquiry empowers the reader to imagine a woman consumed by passion, and a betrayal that conspires against one who “learned, then practiced, a savage wisdom.” With the vibrancy of Louisiana color A Savage Wisdom weaves the reader into the life of a “love-struck southern girl ... and a cold-blooded killer.”
Excerpt
An hour later, Annie awoke with the gentle pang that indicated it was time to relieve herself. Leaving the bathroom, she saw Nevers lying facedown on the bed. From the doorway, she discerned the unmistakable colors of a tattoo on his back. She moved out of the frame to let the light reach across the room. Annie stepped quietly so as not to awaken him. Her throat constricted as it did when she was frightened or saw something very beautiful.
It was a dragon. Of some sort. More beautiful and dangerous than any creature she had ever seen. A hybrid of sphinx and basilisk, of hippogriff and gargoyle and manticore, it was evil in design yet somehow holy in effect, a beast selected from the draconian population slurking in a guttered Chinaman’s opium induced nightmare. Rising out of a sulfurous fog, it was covered with diamond shaped scales of green and blue. The monster’s incandescent white eyes were embossed with black pupils; its mouth vomited red and yellow flames. At significant jointures, the skeletal structure of its batlike wings protruded daggerstyle—living icicles dripping with the gore of its latest victim. The quartz shards of its stegosaurean spine tapered into a segmented scorpion tail that serpentined down to the hills of his buttocks where it disappeared into the subterranean aperture of its cave home. Every aspect of the illuminated dragon seemed to possess hieroglyphic meaning, as if the tattoo were a medieval manuscript indited by a slavering but skillful madman.
Mesmerized by the horror and beauty of the thing, Annie reached out to touch it.
* * *
The next morning, Nevers read his newspaper and sipped coffee while Annie moved around the kitchen fixing breakfast, at each turn sneaking inquisitive looks at him.
Finally, he dropped the paper with a rustle. “Good God,” he laughed. “What is it?” He looked at his lap. “Is my fly open, or what?”
“Nothing,” Annie said.
“Oh, no,” he said, rising and tossing his paper on the table. “You’re not getting away with looks like that in my house.” He slapped her on the backside. “I’ll throw my beastie down the steps on her cute little fanny if she doesn’t tell me.” He put his arms around her waist and peered over her shoulder. The spatula lapped grease onto a pair of eggs staring at him out of the skillet.
“You’re the beastie,” Annie said.
Harold backed away as she transferred the eggs to his plate, between a slice of ham and a puddle of grits. Smiling, he took his seat at the table and waited for elaboration. Annie situated a fork and knife on the napkin beside his plate. Arms akimbo, she glared at the eggs. She reminded Nevers of a petulant child and he laughed. In a quick movement, Annie picked up the knife and stabbed the egg yolks maliciously several times. “Sometimes I could just kill you!”
Reviews
"powerful page-turning account of crime and punishment in tradition that includes Capote & Mailer" - George Garrett, Poet Laureate of Virginia
"How an innocent woman became a murderer - Tim Gautreaux, Author
"Bone-chilling story with heartless brutality - Dayne Sherman, Author
Author's Biography
Dr. Norman German is Professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana University, Fiction Editor for Louisiana Literature, and Winner of the Deep South Writers’ Contest for No Other World. A Savage Wisdom is his third novel.
A specialist in twentieth-century American literature, he has also published award-winning short stories, poems, and literary criticism. His stories have appeared in commercial and literary magazines.