In 'The Twelve-Mile Straight,' Characters Are Symbols First, People Second
Eleanor Henderson's novel, set in 1930s Georgia, seeks to portray a time when "slavery was over, but not past," says our reviewer. But a lack of nuance keeps its characters from emerging as individuals.
In the fictional county of Cotton, Georgia, a pair of twins is born, one white and one black. "They looked like a pair of baby chicks ... Only if you looked closely â and people did â could you see that the girl is pink as a piglet, and the boy was brown." In the summer of 1930, in segregated Georgia, they become a sensation, nicknamed the Gemini twins by the press for Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Leda by different fathers.
Their mother, Elma Jesup,
