A miasma hangs over every page of Andy Davidson’s latest novel, The Boatman’s Daughter. Its Arkansas swamp setting clings to the narrative — clings, as a matter of fact, to Miranda Crabtree, the unfortunate young protagonist of this sordid Southern tale.
Since her father disappeared, Miranda has eked out a tenuous living ferrying drugs through the bayou for corrupted preacher Billy Cotton. Hiram Crabtree went missing the night he and Miranda brought the witch Iskra to deliver Cotton’s unusual child. Seven years later, with his spiritual kingdom in tatters, Cotton’s on his way out of this world and desperate to appease the ghost of his wife with a sacrifice.
Miranda finds herself unexpectedly in the middle of Cotton’s perverse plans, as manmade and supernatural threats loom over them all. The atmosphere of The Boatman’s Daughter is thick and fetid, compelling as it is unpleasant. And it had me itching for more stories that plunge us deep into the swamp to reveal the creatures of darkness therein. Here are four:
