Elizabeth Lyon

The Issue of John Cooper Elizabeth Lyon

Nancy Elizabeth (Johnny) Cooper, a spunky young woman living on the family plantation in post Civil War Alabama, draws the reader into the hearts and souls of the people living on the plantation. War and post-war poverty has ravaged the once beautiful family home. Her father, Colonel John Cooper, was killed in battle three months before her birth. You will feel you are there in this time and place where white and black people live, love, and die together. Johnny endures a cruel stepfather who beats field workers and never lets her forget her station in life is that of servant. She assists in childbirth; witnesses a voodoo ceremony where a beautiful young woman and a cobra become locked in a trance of drums and death. She is almost killed by three vengeful horsemen for something that happened before she was born. Johnny searches for answers about her familys history. Something happened that she has never been told and leads her to a surprising conclusion when emotions erupt as surely as lava spews, leaving a trail of heat and destruction. She falls in love, learns to read and write and is taught to cook southern, just the way you like it.