Papers (1965-1983) including correspondence, news releases, galley and page proofs, concerning novel Ginger Hill.
Sarah Allen of Kinston, N.C., wrote the novel Ginger Hill which was published by John F. Blair Publishing House of Winston-Salem, N.C. The manuscript, originally titled Rain on the River was begun during the late 1950s and completed in 1973-74. The novel is set in northeastern North Carolina during the depression years of the 1930s. The narrative is told by Ophelia, a fourteen-year old black girl, who lives with her mother, Cassie, and three other tenant families on Ginger Hill Plantation, a tobacco farm.
Contained in this collection is correspondence (1971-1974) between Mrs. Allen and John Blair. In these letters, many fine points concerning Ginger Hill are discussed in great detail, such as the African American Vernacular English of the black characters; changes in the tobacco-planting chapter; time periods between chapters; accuracy concerning the river, which plays a significant symbolic role, as does the hurricane; the courtroom trial scene of Cassie; and the conclusion, in which the lives of all the characters are brought together for the reader. There is also an explanation of the conception and writing of Ginger Hill.
Literary manuscripts in this collection consist of an original draft and subsequent rewritten drafts. There are photocopies of notes and notations on the manuscript between Mrs. Allen and Guy Owen, a professor and novelist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, who was instrumental in helping to ready the manuscript for publication. It was on Owen's advice that Ginger Hill was sent to John Blair for publication.
There is also the rewritten final version of the conclusion of Ginger Hill along with numerous redrafts and revisions. Finally, there are photocopies of news releases and reviews of the published book.
Gift of Mrs. Sarah Allen
Processed by V. Leary, October 1987
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, May 2023
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.