Strange fruit
Author Laird Hunt has a knack for inhabiting the voices of women, with plots set in motion by historical events — as in 2014’s Civil War-era “Neverhome,” in which a young wife disguises herself as a male Union soldier.
His latest, “The Evening Road,” tracks the journeys — physical and psychological — of two appealingly complicated women, and is also grounded in history: the lynching in Indiana’s Grant County on Aug. 7, 1930, that inspired the poem “Strange Fruit” and the 1939 Billie Holiday recording.
The first half of this intensely lyrical novel is narrated by Ottie Lee Henshaw, an unhappily married secretary en route, reluctantly, to the “rope party” with a group that includes her husband, Dale, and her lecherous boss, Bud. The road trip — which Bud promises will be “better than any picture show” — is marked by mishaps. They may not get there after all.
It’s clear from the opening lines that Ottie Lee is a formidable character: She fantasizes about stabbing Bud with freshly sharpened “murder pencils.” She’s ruthless yet vulnerable, haunted by memories that leave her angry and ashamed.
The novel’s latter section belongs to Calla Destry, a 16-year-old black orphan whose hometown is the site of the lynching. “The crowd was like ants on spilled sugar,” she observes. For her, it isn’t “like a picture show — this was all around, this was right next to me.” She’s desperate to get out. Calla also wants to track down Leander, the white man she thinks she’s in love with. Her dangerous journey is a lost cause, but that won’t stop her. “I get an idea in my head, I get focused,” she says.
As Calla and Ottie Lee embark on their respective missions, their paths intersect in unexpected ways. Hunt keeps the lynching offstage. His gaze remains steady on his troubled narrators, caught in moments of crisis — spilling secrets, facing difficult choices. With their communities riven by ugly banter, hatred and ignorance, it’s unclear whether these women will emerge broken or resilient, and at what cost.