The Half Beneath
A young man is born into an existential fog. Nothing for him is ever black or white; nothing for him is ever determined. His name is Lyle, a slave in western Virginia, and his story speaks of the indeterminacy of family and identity in a world where slavery and violence wrench and pull at bonds of blood and affection. From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Confederate infantry, to the Union ranks on the shores of the Ohio River, Lyle navigates his way through shifting loyalties and precarious relationships, discovering who he is, as a slave, as a son, as black, as white, as shackled, as free. Lyle is a divided spirit in a divided nation, steadily uncovering, steadily determining, steadily creating that half beneath.
About B. Robert Wilson (St. Louis, Missouri Author)
B. Robert Wilson is the great great grandson of John-Lyle Wilson, the main character featured in his novel, The Half Beneath. A sort of literary troubadour, he spends his life following and writing the incredible Homeric tales buried in the land he loves. Wilson is an alumnus of the University of Kentucky and recently reclaimed 90 acres of John-Lyle Wilson’s former farm just north of Lexington. His literary focus surrounds what he calls “folk fiction” – stories about extraordinary Americans whose lives illuminate the beauty and complexity in American culture.