“Maud’s Line” by Margaret Verble will be the subject of the December First Thursday Book Discussion at noon on December 3rd at the Columbia Public Library.
Margaret Verble’s fourth grade teacher taught the white perspective of local history. “It was all these innocent white people had come here to live, and for some reason these savage Indians were trying to kill them,” Verble said in an interview with Osiyo TV. Verble, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, knew this history was wrong, and she knew she wanted to present an alternative to that history.
Verble shares her family’s perspective through historical fiction books populated with characters inspired by her family members and the stories she learned from her elders. “Maud’s Line” is set in Oklahoma in 1928, at the crossroads of the Gilded Age and the Great Depression. Maud is a fictional character living near Verble’s family’s land on the Arkansas River south of Tulsa.
Verble depicts the seemingly slow pace of Maud’s rural life on her family’s allotment. It’s an existence rooted in a deep sense of place and family. News travels at the speed of a walk, and there are no quick answers or resolutions. But don’t be fooled. Verble has a rich story to tell about Maud’s struggle to find her path through the tumult of life, death, love, loss and trying to escape poverty.
Read “Maud’s Line” and bring your comments, questions and observations to our discussion next month.
