NPR: Racism and Family Secrets in 'Mudbound': Morning Edition, March 14, 2008 Hillary Jordan's first novel, Mudbound, is a story of racism and well-kept secrets. Set on a desolate farm in the Mississippi Delta at the end of World War II, the novel explores the complex relations between two families: the owners of the land, and the sharecroppers who live and work on it.
The novel earned Jordan the Bellwether Prize for fiction, an award founded by author Barbara Kingsolver to promote literature of social responsibility. The cash prize and publishing contract is awarded bi-annually to an unpublished author.
Kingsolver says Mudbound is a beautifully written novel that examines the roots of racism through the distinct voices of its characters.
