Paretsky's Bleeding Kansas Set in Farm Country
Sara Paretsky Novel Highlights Social Conflict in Rural Midwest
Oct 28, 2008
Best selling mystery writer, Sara Paretsky, took a break from her famous female detective V.I. Warshawski, to write Bleeding Kansas, a book with an entirely new cast of characters. Paretsky was born and raised in Kansas. The author currently lives in Chicago, where her popular detective series is based. Paretsky created a new cast of characters, set in her home state of Kansas.
Bleeding Kansas is a fiction novel with serious subject matter about social conflict, the Iraq War, protest movements and religion. The cast of characters are humanly flawed, with imperfections that make the reader feel as if they could be friends or neighbors.
Families of Kaw Valley and Social Conflict
Bleeding Kansas introduces a family with a long history in Kaw River Valley, in rural Kansas. Two families, the Grelliers and the Schapens, have a history that goes back to the 1850's. At one time the families were friends, but in the time this story takes place there is animosity that causes social conflict.
The protagonists of the novel are the Grelliers, a family that consists of Jim and Susan Grellier and their teen aged children Chip and Gina. A tragedy in the family pulls them apart and nearly destroys the entire family and their farm. When Susan participates in a war protest it causes a family conflict that causes Chip to runs away and join the war in Iraq, with tragic results.
Wiccan Shocks Community
Gina Harding, a Wiccan, moves into an empty farmhouse, and starts to organize naked pagen dances around the bonfire.The Christian community is scandalized, and respond by behaving in a not very Christian manner.
The Perfect Red Heifer
A perfect red heifer, born on the Schapen farm, drew the attention of Jewish religious leaders, who hoped it may be the Perfect Red Heifer needed as a sacrifice before rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem.
Bleeding Kansas is a complex novel, with intricate storylines and intriguing characters. The farmers in Kaw River Valley are just are intriguing and dark in their way as V.I. and the mean streets of Chicago.
Sara Paretsky
According to an interview with Sara Paretsky on her website, she took a break from her smart V.I. Warshawsky character to write about Kansas. She stated that she had planned Bleeding Kansas for eight years.
Bleeding Kansas is Paretsky's 14th novel. When Paretsky introduced detective V.I. Warshawsky with Indemnity Only, in 1982, she revolutionized the mystery genre with the tough female detective who knew her way around the urban streets of Chicago.
Bleeding Kansas was written by Sara Paretsky. The book was published by C.P. Putnam and Sons in 2008. ISBN 978-0-399-1540508.
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