Last month, Brockway writer, PJ Piccirillo came to the Rebecca M. Arthur’s Library in Brookville to talk about his latest book, The Indigo Scarf, which was recently published with Sunbury Press.
Piccirillo talked with the crowd about his process for writing a historical fiction book, which is set in Cameron County. According to the writer, he knew he wanted to tell a story about local people and places, but he did a lot of exploring to find the story he knew he wanted to tell. Below is his synopsis for The Indigo Scarf:
Based on the true story of two slaves who fled their owners with white women into the wilderness of north-central Pennsylvania, The Indigo Scarf interprets the little known legacy of slavery persisting in the north during the nineteenth century. Meticulously researched, the author’s work is informed by scholars in early American slave laws and northern black codes, by experts in post-colonial folkways, and by descendants who live to this day in the fugitive settlement their forbears established. While The Indigo Scarf relates the covert workings of sympathetic Quakers, the ruthlessness of a slave catcher, and the irony of a Revolutionary War veteran forced to face his daughter’s love for the slave Jedediah James, it treats the deeper theme of the spirit-breaking impact slavery has had across generations since abolition.
Though shadowed in whiskey-making and timber-pirating, novel is a paean to devotion, testing the lengths a woman will go to save her man from a burning vengeance as he confronts the privations of a wild frontier while his former owner schemes his return. On a broader scale, the story is a testament to the perseverance and vision of pioneer women who devoted themselves to planting in their offspring the seeds of hope for liberty which may only be realized by descendants they would never know.
Woven between scenes spanning a forbidden, historically based slave marriage on a plantation in Virginia’s tidewater region to a tragic liquor operation on the Susquehanna’s un-peopled and feral West Branch during the frontier decades after Pennsylvania’s last Indian purchase, the narrator’s own sub-tale culminates in her realization of how a pioneer-woman ancestor had destined her to break the generational chain of bondage.
Piccirillo explained his process for researching the book, which took him seven years to complete. He took classes on weaving, traveled to relevant historic sites and museums, and read as much as he could to give context for the time period.
The writer also touched on some of the other important work that he is doing to promote regional support for other writers in northern Appalachia. Most recently, Piccirillo collaborated with local and regional writers to initiate the Writers Conference of Northern Appalachia, which kicked off in Wheeling this past September. As a follow up to the ground-breaking event, Piccirillo will also serve as the editor of the forthcoming Northern Appalachia Review.
“The goals for these ventures are to build awareness for the unrecognized literature of our region,” Piccirillo explained. “We want to archive it, and to brand our body of work such that people will want to buy their region’s literature, much as they do in New England, southern Appalachia, and other literary corners of America.”
The Indigo Scarf is now available on Amazon and in select bookstores. The book has received glowing reviews from other regional authors.
USA Today-bestselling author David Poyer says: “The story never falters, and the description certainly clearly evokes the time period and the mountains and valleys this author obviously loves. The escaped slave Jedidiah especially is a tormented soul; his story and ultimate fate sucked me in. …for the thoughtful reader it rings astoundingly true. This skilled and talented author should be much better known!”
Bruce Pratt, author of The Trash Detail, writes: “Rich in illuminative detail, a deep sense of history, and a remarkable sense of place, this narrative is driven by beautifully drawn characters limned in exquisite prose. A literary page-turner of the highest stripe.”
“The plot was believable. The setting realistic… And what an ending!” ~Anne Halvorson
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