The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi

I had always been drawn to Natchez Mississippi after reading the Penn Gage book series by Greg Iles. Imagine my surprise to find he was included in this book. Although this book goes into the history of Natchez, it doesn’t read like a textbook. It is more like a travelogue. The story of Ibrahima, the royal prince that was enslaved and his return to Africa was interesting. He was an educated person degraded to the life of a slave. He spent most of his life trying to be free.

The history of the garden clubs, the Pilgrimage, and the Tableaux show that some people cannot access the past as past and move on. I did not realize Natchez was so much like Savannah or New Orleans with its eccentricity. I found myself reading a lot of this book out loud to my husband. I told him we need to take a virtual tour of Natchez. We spent the rest of the day looking at photos of the antebellum homes and gardens.

The book is easy to read, although it took me a few days to finish, because I kept stopping to look up Natchez. In fact, I have already signed up for a visitor guide of the area and Mississippi River. If you are a fan of Greg Iles or John Berendt, you will love this book. The author is an amazing storyteller and he will hook you in with tales of the past and present.