Reader Score
83%
83% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Great
Based on 6 reviews on
Finalist for the Reading the West Book Award for Fiction
A novel about the remarkable people living on the edge of freedom and slavery, All God's Children brings to life the paradoxes of the American frontier - a place of liberty and bondage, wild equality, and cruel injustice.
In 1827, Duncan Lammons, a disgraced young man from Kentucky, sets out to join the American army in the province of Texas, hoping that here he may live - and love - as he pleases. That same year, Cecelia, a young slave in Virginia, runs away for the first time.
Soon infamous for her escape attempts, Cecelia drifts through the reality of slavery - until she encounters frontiersman Sam Fisk, who rescues her from a slave auction in New Orleans.
In spite of her mistrust, Cecelia senses an opportunity for freedom, and travels with Sam to Texas, where he has a homestead. In this new territory, where the law is an instrument for the cruel and the wealthy, they begin an unlikely life together, unaware that their fates are intertwined with those of Sam's former army mates including Duncan Lammons, a friend - and others who harbor dangerous dreams of their own.
This novel will take its place among the great stories that recount the country's fight for freedom - one that makes us want to keep on with the struggle.
Aaron Gwyn is the author of three novels. His fiction has appeared in his story collection Dog on the Cross, finalist for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award; and numerous magazines and anthologies such as Esquire, McSweeney's, Best of the West, and Every True Pleasure: LGBTQ Tales of North Carolina. He is associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where he teaches fiction writing and American literature.
Author of Before Familiar Woods. Writer, reader, advocate of wild places. Represented by @alecdshane of Writers House. #newengland
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Praise for All God's Children:
"Mr. Gwyn has couched his meanings within a swift and skillful western, which allows them to unfold with devastating power. [ . . . ] The very people who founded the American West, this bracing novel suggests, were those most desperate to be independent from it."--Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
"Gwyn's novel is a powerful depiction of the rough realities of frontier life, of the vicious influence of racism in a place where 'men who didn't dare look at you in daylight might burn you alive come sundown.'"--The New York Times
★ "Gwyn creates an overwhelmingly visceral and emotionally rich narrative amid Texas's complex path to statehood [ . . . ] This is a masterpiece of western fiction in the tradition of Cormac McCarthy and James Carlos Blake."--Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"It's always a pleasure to discover another superb writer who had not been on my radar [ . . . ] Gwyn writes fresh, vigorous sentences, and many scenes pulse with tension, tenderness or both."--Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Readers will relish these unforgettable characters and this expansive view of Texas' wild ride to joining the Union."--Booklist
"Gwyn knows how to tell a story--he builds suspense wonderfully [ . . . ] his excellent writing and gift for pacing make this an enjoyable historical novel."--Kirkus Reviews
"In his new book, Aaron Gwyn gives us a vivid and piercing depiction of America when it was young and expanding, and of the myriad cruelties and lies that it was built upon. All God's Children is a page-turner, a tour de force, and a brilliantly savage novel that you will be reckoning with long after you have put it down."--Nick Arvin, author of Mad Boy and Articles of War
"Gwyn offers us an entertaining tale of misfits finding each other that is also an inspiring, hopeful exploration of an alternate vision of violence and masculinity."--Lone Star Literary
"All God's Children is an enthralling historical novel that presents a vision of the American West. Gwyn's prose is both raw and captivating, and what results is the moving story of the lives of Duncan, Sam, and Cecilia. I couldn't put it down."--Brandon Hobson, National Book Award finalist and author of The Removed
"All God's Children is a riveting work of historical vision. Once again, Gwyn has crafted a tale that is as tragic as it is gorgeous."--Smith Henderson, PEN-Award winning author of Fourth of July Creek
Praise for Aaron Gwyn:
"Aaron Gwyn claims his place among the ranks of great American novelists with this richly drawn historical epic. A masterpiece."--Philipp Meyer, author of The Son
"Mr. Gwyn depicts the eventful mission with tight dramatic control and a flair for suspenseful twists, and the same ambiguities that surround John Wayne's ruthlessly single-minded Ethan Edwards."--The Wall Street Journal
"In Gwyn's expert hands, nothing, including good or evil, is ever so simple."--Caroline Leavitt, The Boston Globe
"The book's pacing is cinematic, and it echoes adrenalized silver-screen war stories like "Three Kings" and "The Hurt Locker," as well as the gentler cross-species concerns of "The Horse Whisperer."--John Williams, The New York Times
"A work of narrative alchemy, a prose smelter brimming with horses, soldiers, heroism, villainy, horrific violence and unexpected tenderness. [ . . . ] If you find tear stains on your shoulders when you turn the last page, they are likely yours, shed out of the sadness that only comes when you wish there were pages left to turn."--The Houston Chronicle
★ "Dog on the Cross is a gripping tale of men at war, and captures the essence of close combat--the terror, excitement, chaos, tension, and cruelty, as well as the harsh decisions men make under stress [ . . . ] its gritty realism is part of the strength." --Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)