"When was it that first I heard of the grass harp? Long before the autumn we lived in the China tree; an earlier autumn, then; and of course it was Dolly who told me, no one else would have known to call it that, a grass harp."
The wind blew lightly through the tall grasses in the Baptist church cemetery, where the Talbos and the Fenwicks were buried, at the edge of the River Woods. After Collin's parents died, he went to live with his unmarried Aunts Verena and Dolly. In their 60's, Verena was whip-smart, the richest lady in town, and Dolly was the quiet one, wandering the woods collecting herbs and roots to distill her Dropsy cure, in high demand. Their friend Catherine lived out back of their house in a tin shed, claiming to be an Indian, but dark as the angels of africa - and toothless.
The summer Collin turned sixteen, Verena brought a Dr. Ritz to properly manufacture Dolly's cure, if they can get a recipe out of her, and Dolly evaded Verena by escaping to the River Woods with a quilt and a lunch basket, taking Catherine and Collin. Sheltering in a large treehouse, they were spotted by a boy out squirrel hunting, then the arrival of the townsfolk to talk sense to them, including the Reverend and Judge Cool, who ended up staying with them and enjoying some wine. Maybe a better place to hide was the forsaken houseboat down the river. They talk about relationships and friendship, the kind Judge Cool described as the one true person who you can tell everything. The story continues as characters throughout the town weave in and out - the bakery couple, sisters planning a party, and the travelling evangelist who tries to scheme people, perhaps like Verena's Dr. Ritz who is a schemer himself.
This was Truman Capote's second novel after Other Voices, Other Rooms, published in 1948. It was turned into a Broadway play in 1952, and in produced as a musical in 1967. In 1995, it was made into a film with an all-star cast.
A slight novel, but so rich in colour, alive with atmosphere and character, that it stays with you. If you are thinking Capote wrote reminiscent and sentimental novels of his youth in Alabama, this is it. Beautifully written, The Grass Harp was Capote's personal favourite work.
My other review of Truman Capote:
1951 / Hardcover / 181 pages
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