Zora Hurston and the Strange Case of ..., C. Arthur Ellis
Zora Hurston and the Strange Case of ..., C. Arthur Ellis
2 Rating(s)
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Zora Hurston and the Strange Case of Ruby McCollum

Author: C. Arthur Ellis, Jr., PhD

Narrator: Trei Taylor

Unabridged: 15 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/27/2017


Synopsis

In the timber camps of North Florida in the 1930s, Zora Neale Hurston, a famous African-American anthropologist and author, discovered the unwritten segregationist law allowing a white man to force a white woman to have his children. Dr. Ellis coined the term "paramour rights" and attributed it to Hurston's character in this novel. Twenty years later, she received an assignment from the Pittsburgh Courier to cover the murder trial of Ruby McCollum, a wealthy colored woman accused of slaying a white physician who had recently been elected to the Florida state senate--and rumored to be her lover and father of one of her children. Intrigued by what she considered a case of paramour rights, Hurston accepted the Courier assignment. What she discovered in the small town of Live Oak was a sordid tale of interracial sex, greed, drugs and murder, concealed by the guilty silence of its fearful citizens who did not want their secret involvement in the subterranean world of illegal gambling and liquor sales to be revealed. To paraphrase Hurston, she felt that the story played itself out in a conspiracy of silence, behind a curtain of secrecy.

The audio version of the story contains a new Introduction and Afterword read by the author, while the novel itself is read by the talented Trei Taylor, who brings a unique depth of character to Zora Neale Hurston.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Dawn

****Spoilers**** Ok, I haven't been on good reads in forever! I probably forgot to write a few reviews but I have been sluggish in my reading. It is my great escape from life. So, I often find myself reading the same sort of books and wanted to give myself a chance to read something real. "Reading is......more

Goodreads review by Kathy

I am a fan of Zora Neale Huston's fiction and truly enjoyed her telling the story of Ruby McCollum. A fascinating true story involving paramour rights in 1950's Florida. To recant the story of Ruby and her trial for murder of a white man by an African -American female journalist and novelist at the......more

I rarely read a prologue to a book so imagine my surprise when, at the end, I realized that I was reading a piece of non-fiction! I put it on my reading list because of Zora Neale Hurston. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the twists and turns, meeting Ruby and her family through the pages. There were......more

Goodreads review by La

Surprise! For some reason I thought I was an authentic narration of Ruby McCollum trial. Instead I got a fictionalized rendering of the story that COULD have been.I also believe there was another daughter born to Ruby and Doctor Adams whose name was Priscilla who was never even alluded to.Just sign !......more

Goodreads review by G.

The literary of Zora Neale Hurston was the best gems of our time. They wanted the truth from a negro perspective. They asked the right one to write facts, as she knew it. Ms. Zora Hurston to report on the trial and case of Ruby McCollum in Suwanee County, Florida. Tried for a crime in the 1950's era......more