[Note: To enhance your reading experience and to show the young novelist how its done, I will be releasing my novel Gotterdammerung in a series every Wednesday. I love the title as I reject “stay in your lane” lexicon. The characters are a seasoned blend of reality and fiction. Astute readers will recognize echoes from our racial past.
Enjoy!]
GOTTERDAMMERUNG
A Novel
W. F. Twyman, Jr.
Copyright 2019
The Characters
Major Characters
James Moore Scott -- free black living in Boston circa 1837, nicknamed "St. Cuisine", son of black abolitionist Ted Scott
Theodore "Ted" Scott -- free black abolitionist in Boston circa 1837, father of James Moore Scott
Mary Twilight Scott -- mother of James Moore Scott, wife of Ted Scott circa 1837
William Guion "William G." Nell -- best friend of Ted Scott, a Boston tailor, abolitionist, husband of Louise Cooper Nell, father of William Cooper "William C." Nell
Louise Cooper Nell -- wife of William G., mother of William C., born in Charleston, South Carolina of a free black slave owner
William Cooper "William C." Nell -- best friend of James Scott, obstinate intellectual, staunch abolitionist, son of William G. and Louise Cooper Nell
United States Senator Robert Lynch -- the villain
Chief Justice Walter White, Massachusetts State Supreme Court -- most powerful lawyer in the state
The Spottswood Cafe -- founded in 1639, the oldest restaurant in the state
Minor Characters
Rev. Alexander Lucius Twilight -- brother of Mary Twilight Scott, Congregational minister, State legislator, lives in Brownington, Vermont
Floyd Patterson -- mulatto Maitre 'd at The Spottswood Cafe
David Walker -- fiery free black abolitionist
Gideon Quarles Langston -- senior barber at Ted Scott's barbershop
Charles Langston -- fiery free black abolitionist, brother of Gideon Langston
William Lloyd Garrison -- intellectual white abolitionist
Ellis Gray Loring -- white abolitionist lawyer
Sheriff Charles Pinckney Sumner -- abolitionist Harvard Law School graduate, friend of colored people
Rev. John Givens -- minister of the African Baptist Church
George Langston -- Clerk to Chief Justice White
William Babbitt Haynes -- black law clerk ahead of his time
Rev. Timothy Mather Cooley -- a man of banal character
Rev. Lemuel Haynes -- a man of enduring faith
Elizabeth Haynes -- white wife of William Babbitt Haynes
Rev. Thomas Rankin -- pastor of Salisbury Congregational Church
Professor A. B. Whipple -- Professor of Romance languages at Salisbury College
Shakespeare -- Whipple family dog
Sarah Whipple -- Professor Whipple's daughter
Professor Mordecai Robinson -- law professor at Salisbury College
General Samuel Fessenden -- white abolitionist lawyer
Unnamed South Carolinian -- a villian
Thomas Paul Jr. -- scion of Old Free Black Family
Thomas Adams -- clerk for United States Senator Daniel Webster
United States Senator Daniel Webster -- old friend of Chief Justice White
Dr. Robert Lush -- Brownington, Vermont doctor
Dean Joseph Story -- dean of Harvard Law School, justice on the United States Supreme Court
Theodore Brownhelm -- white lawyer, friend of colored people
Joseph Jenkins Roberts -- agent for the American Colonization Society
Little Alex -- an innocent child
Robert Morris -- house servant and law clerk for lawyer Elias Gray Loring
Phillip Montgomery -- the lawyer for colored people
State Senator Doug Marsh -- not a profile in courage
State House Judiciary Committee Chairman Hiram Bruce -- an American tragedy
Grandma Beverly -- all is revealed
Sarah Bell Grant -- the conscience of insanity
I am getting very, very interested in this!
You are such a good writer and I would imagine that this would be as exciting and intriguing as everything of yours that I have read so far.
Keep us going your writings!!!
I hate "stay in your lane." We ALL share the highways!