Alive Nearby

by Breena Clarke

Discover the rich stories of The People of Russell's Knob in the 20th and 21st centuries in "Alive Nearby." This novel by best-selling historical fiction author Breena Clarke provides intricate backstories of the complex characters in "Angels Make Their Hope Here." The novel explores how Russell's Knob, a hidden and marooned town in New Jersey's highlands, managed to preserve its existence and vibrant history despite slavery, war, and Jim Crow. "Alive Nearby" brings to life the characters central to the author's previous works, "Stand The Storm" and "Angels Makes Their Hope Here," including the Smoots, Wilhelms, Murtaughs, and Coats. Through the letters of Amarantha Douglas to her absent son, we are transported to an imagined town that comes alive with its history. This retired school administrator weaves together stories of the past and present, asking what happens when we keep our dead "Alive Nearby."

120 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 26, 2023

About the author

Breena Clarke's fourth novel, ALIVE NEARBY, is an epistolary novel that weaves back stories of characters from ANGELS MAKE THEIR HOPE HERE (July 2014), her sweeping novel about an imagined mixed-race community, and brings them and their stories into the 21st century. Breena is the author of two historical novels set in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Her debut novel, RIVER, CROSS MY HEART (1999), was an October 1999 Oprah Book Club selection. Clarke’s critically reviewed second novel, STAND THE STORM, is set in mid-19th century Washington, D.C., and was chosen by the Washington Post Book Review as one of the 100 best for 2008. Breena Clarke is co-author with Glenda Dickerson of the play "Re/Membering Aunt Jemima: A Menstrual Show" and is an advisor to the board of A Room Of Her Own Foundation. She has served on the fiction faculty of The Stonecoast MFA program at The University of Southern Maine. Her short fiction has appeared online at Kweli, The Nervous Breakdown, Catapult, and others. She is co-editor of Chicken Soup For The Soul I’m Speaking Now: Black Women Share Their Truth in 101 Stories of Love, Courage, and Hope. She is a co-founder and organizer of The Hobart Festival of Women Writers since 2013 and is an editor of HFWW’s online journal, NOW.

Reviews

[Esther Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breena Clarke tells important stories, in her wonderful prize winning historical fiction, about people, race, history, and persistence. In her latest book, Alive Nearby, she returns to her masterful "Angels Make Their Hope Here" to fill us in on the people in Russell's Knob, a hidden town in New Jersey's highlands. The novel spans times of slavery, Jim Crow, and war, and artfully describes, through beautiful letters by Amarantha Douglas to her absent son, what happens in life, large and small.

Breena Clarke's stories tell us, with originality and grace, what we all should know.

Esther Cohen

[booktrout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beginning with “River Cross My Heart,” an Oprah pick, Clarke has demonstrated a storyteller’s sense of rhythm annd flow and a prose stylist’s deft handling of voice, character, dialogue, and phrasing. With “Alive Nearby,” she further solidifies her standing as a writer of timeless, enduring narrative. This is a book to savor.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing historical fiction with an in-depth layered world built by Ms. Clarke's words. The novel being told through letters made me feel like I too was peeking into the archives like the narrator. Heartfelt & beautiful