Under such ideal conditions, by the spring of 1995, Mulberry is hopping with “life going on and going on at a furious pace.” And not a moment too soon for Lena McPherson, now a 45-year-old “got it made” success story, owner of a thriving real estate business and all-around helping hand. In its wake, the flood has caused a condition called “Cleer Flo,” which makes the Ocawatchee River run cleaner than the municipal water supply and “cool as the dreams of a drought-stricken people.” “The Hand I Fan With” brings us back to Ansa’s mythical stomping grounds just after the devastating big flood of 1994. Readers familiar with Ansa’s work will remember Mulberry as the location for “Baby of the Family,” about the adolescent Lena McPherson, and “Ugly Ways,” the story of the irrepressible Lovejoys. We can add to that imaginary literary atlas Mulberry, the setting for Tina McElroy Ansa’s third novel, “The Hand I Fan With.” From the depth and complexity of her superbly crafted story to the loving representation of a small middle Georgia town, the novel is a tour de force of imagination and wisdom. Over numerous novels, William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County in Mississippi became so real that the author could draw an imaginary map of it. One of the benchmarks of great literature is its ability to transport us to a different world, one that crackles with as much authenticity as the street on which we live.
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