Cold Running Creek

by Zelda Lockhart

Coming of age during the final years of slavery in America, Lily, one of the last surviving Mississippi Choctaw, is driven from her home and forced to work as a laborer until her emancipation, after which she determinedly seeks her family and the fate of her people. By the author of Fifth Born. 35,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Jacqueline Matthews · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book because it is a selection for my book club. The book describes the painful circumstances of blacks in the American South in the 1800s, the disparity between living conditions for blacks and whites at that time, and the pain inflicted upon native Americans during the same period. Perhaps this is the purpose of the book. If not, I cannot figure out the author's intent.

The book is quite poorly written. Parts of the plot are illogical, or lack explanation, or both. Attempts to portray the grandeur of plantation wealth are shallow and overdone. Based on the number of spelling and grammatical errors (it's in place of it is and waste in place of waist, for example), an editor was not involved with the book's publication.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written and interesting book; but it did leave me with many questions. I didn't expect a storybook ending, but I would have like to have known something of the origins of Willie and the fate of Tessa.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at Native American and African American characters during start of the Civil War.

[Melanee · Rating 1 out of 5]

A difficult read, hard to finish. If it wasn't for a bookclub don't know if I would have wanted to finish it. Never developed an interest in any of the characters.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

rich storytelling

[Jack]

It's a shame that so few people have read this book, especially since there is lots of scholarly interest right now in relations between Black and Native people. As I understand it, Lockhart essentially self-published this after running into trouble with Simon & Schuster; but it deserves to be reissued to a wider audience (and with persistent orthographic errors removed), with a foreword by, say, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers or Tiya Miles. Riveting.

[MB Shakespeare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of a Choctaw woman during the Civil War. Fave quote: I stayed because being a woman was kin to being a slave; free only if a man says, just like being a slave and free only if a white person says.