The arrival of black artisan Lute McNeil upsets the precarious equilibrium of the Oval when his aggressive pursuit of Shelby leads to disaster. The author makes her points with a delicate hand, maneuvering with confidence and ease through a sometimes incendiary subject. Populated by appealing characters who wrestle with the nuances of race at every stage of their lives, West's first novel in 45 years is a triumph. BOMC and QPB featured selection. The Coles are the hub of an elite community, the embodiment of achievement and stature whose forebears were preachers, teachers, and doctors who rose from slavery by determination and intellect.
Tensions build from many directions, ending in a single tragic event.
This first novel from the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance, the daughter of a former slave, is a beautifully written and very moving story. West writes not only about race and differences but about the shades of emotion that ebb and flow over the life of a family. Dr. Clark Coles and his wife Corinne, pillars of this community, are mortified that their youngest daughter Shelby is set on marrying Meade Wyler, a white jazz musician from New York. Equally alarmed is Lute McNeil, a successful black furniture maker from Boston who is new to Oak Bluffs and desperate for social acceptance. Lute has fallen in love with Shelby Coles, or at least the way of life she represents, and he will stop at nothing to pull her away from Meade.