Griffin's Way

by Frank Yerby

Shortly after Paris Griffin, young, handsome and the master of what had been a Mississippi great plantation before he had ridden off to civil war, returned home to the uneasy peace, he was felled by a personal tragedy so shattering that it cost him his memory and left him a helpless, bedridden invalid. Only after harrowing months when everything else had failed was Candace Trevor, the nurse his brother hired in desperation, able to lead him back out of his utter blackness, only to find that in that tortuous process the two of them had fallen in love. Yet each was married to another, bound helplessly by promises neither was able, in honor, to break.

The Klan had no sense of right and wrong only a sense of superior and inferor... and they intended it to keep it that way. As the Grand Dragon of the Ku KluxKlan, Di Cadwallader is determined that in post-war Mississippi there will be no equality between the races even if he must murder women, children and liberal whites. Even Laurie Griffin, the wife of another man, who Cadwallader claims to love, is not safe from his murderous campaign in defense of white supremacy. Mississippi's climate of evil is so compelling that the black man, sent to educate the children of ex-slaves, embezzles the funds he is given and amasses a personal fortune intending to flee North. This is a story about what actually happened in the South after the Civil War.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Novels

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Born in Augusta, Georgia to Rufus Garvin Yerby, an African American, and Wilhelmina Smythe, who was caucasian. He graduated from Haines Normal Institute in Augusta and graduated from Paine College in 1937. Thereafter, Yerby enrolled in Fisk University where he received his Master's degree in 1938. In 1939, Yerby entered the University of Chicago to work toward his doctorate but later left the university. Yerby taught briefly at Florida A&M University and at Southern University in Baton Rouge.

Frank Yerby rose to fame as a writer of popular fiction tinged with a distinctive southern flavor. In 1946 he became the first African-American to publish a best-seller with The Foxes of Harrow. That same year he also became the first African-American to have a book purchased for screen adaptation by a Hollywood studio, when 20th Century Fox optioned Foxes. Ultimately the book became a 1947 Oscar-nominated film starring Rex Harrison and Maureen O'Hara. Yerby was originally noted for writing romance novels set in the Antebellum South. In mid-century he embarked on a series of best-selling novels ranging from the Athens of Pericles to Europe in the Dark Ages. Yerby took considerable pains in research, and often footnoted his historical novels. In all he wrote 33 novels.

Reviews

[aimée · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was debating whether to give it one star or five; i couldn’t tell if this was so bad that it was good or so good that it was bad

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frank Yerby was an African-American novelist who was also part Seminole and referred to himself as "a young man whose list of ancestors read like a mini-United Nations." Yerby was originally noted for writing romance novels set in the antebellum South. In mid-20th century, Yerby began writing a series of best-selling historical novels ranging from the Athens of Pericles to Europe in the Dark Ages. Yerby took considerable pains in research and often endnoted his historical works. He also became the first African-American to have a book purchased for screen adaptation by a Hollywood studio, when 20th Century Fox optioned The Foxes of Harrow. I read several of his historical novels back in the 70s and 80s and enjoyed most of them.


Griffin's Way is one of his novels about the South taking place during reconstruction in the 1870s. It is definitely a romance novel about a young nurse, Candace Trevor, who moves to the plantation of Griffin's Way near Vicksburg to take care of Paris Griffin who returned from the war with mental issues (probably PTSD). Of course she falls in love with Paris even though they are both already married. Later in the novel they become involved with an African-American politician and educator in trying to start a school for black children and adults which inflames the ire of the local KKK resulting in some very tragic consequences.

Overall, I felt this novel showed its age especially in its portrayal of the Southern characters and the romance between the main characters. However, Yerby did a good job in his portrayal of the African-American characters and how they were persecuted during that time. Sad to say, some of this still has not changed.

[Gerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another Yerby tale of the Old South, now in Reconstruction, 1870-74. His hero—or protagonist—is, as usual for a Yerby main character, caught in the Eternal Triangle (or a country-western song). And, as usual for a Yerby tale, the real star is the history in the background. Frank Garvin Yerby (1916-1991), an African-American (or so he was classified) novelist, often wrote on racial themes; this tale, taking place in Mississippi, covers Klan activities against “uppity” blacks and liberal whites during this period. Yerby, who grew up in the South long before Civil Rights legislation, would know and experience much of what he wrote, not covered in most readers’ education. One thing noticeable about a Yerby tale is how ready the characters are to fully disclose their feelings and histories to other people they’ve just met, even in adversarial situations. Yerby also gifts them with wonderful powers of introspection. Still, this tale is a quick read and I found it enjoyable, if a possibly uncomfortable look at our past.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Civil War veteran returns to find his wife has been unfaithful. I loved Yerby's writing.

[Tasneem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a young adult when I was falling in love with the romanticism of the American civil war period.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not think Frank Yerby could get any better but he did with this work. Wonderful characters and plots, Mr.Yerby is getting his point across very well with regards to race relations.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has anything changed? Thought provoking...there are still so many Dions and so few Paris'

[Victoria Grusing · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad that for some, little has changed.

[TheQueensBooksII · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not one of Frank Yerby's best. I became enamored of Yerby when I first discovered and read Judas, My Brother. That was followed by several others, including The Saracen Blade, another awesome historical fiction read. This Griffin's Way edition was a "book club" pick so maybe it was just really poorly edited, or he wrote it in a hurry under a deadline. Both the plot's and characters' mediocre development was not worthy of a Yerby book. Still interesting and entertaining; sheds a certain light on a dark period of American history (late 1860s/early 1870s) from a half white, half African-American author's POV (written in 1962).

[Karinirmgard]

Deutscher Titel - Das Schicksal der Griffins

[Jim Puskas · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of fluff, best seen as a soap opera for guys.