Lovecraft Country. A Novel

The reader of 'Lovecraft Country' need not be a great connoisseur of the title's eponymous allusion to the legendary American writer of horror to appreciate this fast moving hybrid novel. Part adventure novel, part historical novel, with a great dose of Lovecraftian horror, Matt Ruff's odd creation is a unique text which will expose the reader to the real life horrors endured by American blacks decades after the Emancipation Declaration against the backdrop of secretive covens. Leavened with sarcastic humour, 'Lovecraft Country' illustrates the zig-zagging destiny of the black US Army Korean War veteran Atticus Turner and of his family who are the unwitting pawns of white sorcerers in dire magical need of Turner's blood. Ruff succeeds the impossible : making the reader both laugh and wince at the twin horrors of racism and malevolent magic which torment the Turners in the most horrendous ways.