One Dark Body

by Charlotte Watson Sherman

Raisin, an ugly duckling living with surrogate parents who is joined by her mother Nola, and Sin-Sin, a 14-year-old entering manhood, are helped by old Blue, a shaman who aids them in shedding their pasts and living for the future

Genres: Fiction

209 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1993

About the author

Born Charlotte Denise Watson, in 1958 in Seattle (Washington), the eldest of three children in a working class family. Displayed an early interest in literature. Dreamed of being a writer since third grade when Pippi Longstocking hijacked my imagination.

My mother believed it was dangerous for a daughter to always have her head in a book -- which led to reading by flashlight beneath bedcovers, a geeky, camouflaged appetite for studying the dictionary and keeping poems secret until publishing my first at nineteen.

I studied Social Sciences at Seattle University and began law school shortly after the birth of my first daughter. Once I realized I could actually become a lawyer, I left the University of Puget Sound and never looked back.

I worked as a pretrial screener, outreach coordinator, sexual abuse counselor, emergency housing counselor, child welfare worker, mental health screener, volunteer coordinator for a literacy program, research interviewer, and finally, when my youngest daughter left for college, a professional librarian.

It turns out, writing is the only thing I thought I was any good at, but it is definitely my calling.

Through an extraordinary blast of effort and good fortune, a collection of short fiction, Killing Color, was published by Calyx Books (1992); then shortly after, a novel, One Dark Body, by HarperCollins (1993); then an anthology, Sisterfire: Black Womanist Fiction and Poetry (1994); another novel, touch, (1995), and finally, a children's book, Eli and the Swamp Man (1996).

I received the following awards, fellowships, grants:

Seattle Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant, 1989; King County Arts Commission Fiction Publication Award, 1989; Artist Trust GAP Grant, 1989; Seattle Artists 1991 Research and Development Grant; Great Lakes Colleges Association Fiction Award, 1992; Black Women’s Gathering Women of Achievement Award, 1992; Washington State Arts Commission Fiction Fellowship, 1993; Brandeis University Women’s Committee Distinguished Author’s Award, 1993; Governor’s Writers Award, 1993; Seattle University Award for Professional Achievement, 1994; Granta literary magazine’s Best of Young American Novelists, shortlist, 1995; Barbara Deming Memorial Fund.

My fiction and nonfiction have been published in Essence, Ms., Parenting, American Visions, The Seattle Times, and Goodness Portland; as well as anthologies such as When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple, The Bluelight Corner, Spooks, Spies, and Private Eyes, Edgewalking on the Western Rim, and In Search of Color Everywhere.

I am currently revising a third novel, as well as a YA historical fiction tale I hope will be published as an illustrated story.

My muse is history. The task of healing and reconciling the past, propels the writing. My tools: word, image, ritual, dream, magic. - See more at: http://www.charlottewatsonsherman.com...

(from http://www.charlottewatsonsherman.com/)

Reviews

[Kernan Parrot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful lyrical poetry with strong magic woven throughout. The characters are finding themselves through nature, introspection and their relationships with each other.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The spiritual holds as much shape as the physical in this book. Raisin is born wrinkled due to her mother's failed abortion. Her mother left her to be raised by a foster-mother. When her mother comes back to Pearl, Washington, Raisin wants nothing to do with her. Other-worldly spirits have as much to say about it as the living people. Mystical and poetic, this follows in footsteps of Zora Neale Hurston.

[Jill Eastland · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible, moving book showing a very deep understanding of the experiences of Black African American people. I feel very grateful to Charlotte Watson Sherman for writing this. The descriptive passages, characterisation, monologue, and dialogue are all fantastic, working on real and symbolic levels.