WISDOM

Neff (Blackgammon, 2000) serves up an Afro-Caribbean-Gothic stew spiced with purple prose and an intricate plot.

Dark secrets swirl around Wisdom, the crumbling old plantation on St. Croix to which young nurse Maia Ransom has come from Michigan, drawn by her grandfather’s tales of the grand house where he spent his early years. But the lush scenery, studly men, and sparkling sea can’t distract Maia, dying of ovarian cancer and inspired by a soul-deep sense of kinship with her unknown St. Croix forebears. Though Wisdom can’t be found on any contemporary map, and the islanders clam up whenever she inquires, a handsome Puerto Rican guide eventually leads her to the ramshackle, vine-covered structure that remains. Here lives the last descendant of the Danish planters who built it, dissolute Severin Johanssen and his tiger-eyed, fiercely jealous consort Tina, who scares Maia off the property. Our heroine returns in secret to meet Severin, who has been happily lusting after black women ever since his misspent youth. He’s dying of liver cancer, so Maia concocts a mysterious healing broth and feeds it to him when not dallying with handsome young lawyer Noah Langston. Noah has been searching old archives in St. Croix and finds the Ransom connection at last: the Ransoms were renowned African healers before they were slaves, and the son of the first Johanssen fell in love with a Ransom girl. The couple was married by an English clergyman before he was forced to abandon her and wed the rich daughter of another Danish planter. Yes, Maia is descended directly from this union and may well have a claim to the old estate. But, first, an epic struggle ensues between all parties concerned, encompassing a dark and stormy night, a ruined mill tower, a seventh son, and . . . could that be the deed to the plantation hidden behind that sliding stone?

A hell of a read, but not much of a book.