BRACK: New “afterlife” novel by Watkins is hard to put down

View of U.S. MIlitary Academy in West Point, N.Y., looking north up the Hudson River, 2001. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  Local author Andra Watkins thrills at bringing history alive.  She did it earlier this month in a talk at the Charleston County Public Library.  And she does it in her new supernatural mystery thriller, Hard to Die.

On Nov. 2, about 30 people gathered at the library to hear what I thought would be a regular author talk by Watkins to help the launch of a new book, which came out the day before.  Her talk was anything but regular.  

Instead of focusing on the story of the book, Watkins shared how she had always been a history geek and enjoyed learning the stories of days gone by.  As an adult, she became impassioned by a 2004 biography of Alexander Hamilton by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Chernow.  The book, she said, made you feel like historical characters were in the room with you.

Watkins

As Watkins blossomed into a writer, she yearned to do something similar with her fiction writing.  She came up with a unique solution in her novels — to use characters from history with unexplained deaths and have them come back to the living to drive a new story by helping more contemporary characters deal with challenging situations.  The historical characters, caught in a kind of purgatory that Watkins calls “afterlife,” live and breathe again with the modern characters as they rush to avoid bad guys and resolve a challenge that will allow the historical characters to move beyond their purgatory.

In her first afterlife novel, To Live Forever, Watkins focused on famous explorer Meriwether Lewis, who died mysteriously on the Natchez Trace, an old Indian trail from New Orleans to Nashville that has been used for centuries.  (Coincidentally, Watkins’ second book wasn’t a thriller but a funny nonfiction book about walking the 400–plus mile trail with her 80-year-old father as her “wingman” to help along the way.  It is hilarious and was a New York Times bestseller.)

In the new afterlife novel, Watkins highlights on the story of Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of Thomas Jefferson’s vice president, Aaron Burr, who shot Hamilton in a famous duel.  Alston, highly educated and independent for her time, was the young wife of S.C. Gov. Joseph Alston and lived in Charleston before she drowned in a ship accident on the way to New York.  The new novel’s tale takes the history associated with Theodosia and blends it with a Cold War spy tale set at the military academy at West Point in New York in 1950.

While Watkins discussed the book during the library talk, she focused more on historical characters from the time of Hamilton and Burr, including those in the popular musical, Hamilton.  For example, she talked about George Washington, who stayed in Charleston for a week and didn’t like the heat and mosquitoes.  She brought the importance of his visit alive by regaling listeners with the story of the painting of Washington in City Hall that didn’t end up to be what city fathers wanted.  And she offered details, such as the number of courses at the dinner held to honor Washington’s last night in the Holy City.  (Answer:  30.)

Watkins’ new book, Hard to Die, already has been nominated for the 2016 National Book Award.  When you pick it up to read, be forewarned that it takes a little patience to settle into the book because it is written in two voices — Theodosia Burr Alston’s and a young West Point cadet’s.  But when you get comfortable with this “afterlife style,” you’ll enjoy the romp through Cold War days.  You’ll also learn a lot about history as it comes alive in a new way.  

Hard to Die is hard to put down.  Go get what reviewers are calling one of the most imaginative books now on the shelves.

New topic:  The Election

We don’t blame you if you’re sick of elections, which is why we decided not to focus on it in this issue. But if you’re struggling like the nation is on whether we need to move forward with a insular nativist vision or remain a global world leader, you might want to check out some of the coverage that was in our sister publication Statehouse Report:

America takes a big gamble, commentary by Andy Brack

“America has gambled on Donald Trump.  But he has not been elected king.  He’s accountable now to all of the American people, despite bluster, bravado, a great number of flaws and a record of making intolerant, racist, and misogynic comments to inflame people.  Let’s hope he’s successful in moving America forward and isn’t the biggest con man of them all.”

Look for much of the same at Statehouse, despite new faces, news by senior editor Bill Davis

“South Carolina should expect more of the same at the Statehouse next year — but with a twist after this week’s general election results, observers say.  The state House of Representatives will welcome 18 new members in December when it reorganizes.  … Meanwhile, the state Senate will welcome eight new members, a substantial turnover for 46-member chamber. “

How did Henry McMaster know?  And when did he know it? news brief by Bill Davis

“One of the biggest Republican winners from this week’s general election wasn’t even on the ballot: Lt. Gov. Henry Dargan McMaster.  He became the state’s most vocal and public supporter of President-elect Donald Trump beginning in January after U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) dropped out of the race.”

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