Fire in Beulah

Set during the tense days of the Oklahoma oil rush, Rilla Askew's Fire in Beulahis a mesmerizing story that centers on the complex relationship between Althea Whiteside, an oil wildcatter's high-strung wife, and Graceful, her enigmatic black maid. Their juxtaposing stories-and those of others close to them-unfold against a volatile backdrop of oil-boom opulence, fear, hatred, and lynchings that climax in the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, when whites burned the city's prosperous black community. Askew's award-winning first novel, The Mercy Seat, was praised for its astute depiction of family bonds and the beauty of the American landscape. Now she explores the American race story with the same perception. "A tinderbox of a novel . . . and one that deftly blends historical fact with fiction." (The Boston Globe)

Rilla Askew's The Mercy Seat was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award and won the Western Heritage Award and the Oklahoma Book Award.