Washed in the Blood: A Novel by Lisa Alther

Lisa Ather burst into the American literary pantheon in 1976 with her first novel, Kinflicks, a hilarious romp that portrayed growing up in a thinly disguised Kingsport, Tennessee. She is still going strong. This novel and a non-fiction book, Kinfolks: Falling Off the Family Tree deal with the Melungeon people of Appalachia, tri-racial isolates that show up on her own family tree.  Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 2011. 459 pages. Hardback in dust jacket.