Writers Read: Margaret Verble

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Margaret Verble

Margaret Verble is an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a member of a large Cherokee family that has, through generations, made many contributions to the tribe’s history and survival. Although many of her family have remained in Oklahoma to this day, and some still own and farm the land on

which two of her books are set, Verble was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

Her first novel, Maud's Line, was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016. Her second novel, Cherokee America, was listed by the New York Times as one of the 100 Notable Books of the Year for 2019 and won the Spur Award for Best Western. It is set in 1875 in the Arkansas River bottoms of the old Cherokee Nation West and is a prequel to Maud's Line. The books are linked both by their setting and by four characters who are young in Cherokee America and elders in Maud's Line.

When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky is set in 1926 in the old Nashville Glendale Park Zoo. It was chosen by Booklist as one of the 10 Best Adult Novels of 2021.

Verble's latest novel is Stealing. Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Verble's reply:

I like to consider myself a connoisseur of books. A person one could turn to for advice about what to read. Someone with enough discernment to divide the wheat from the chaff. But I’m beginning to believe that’s just crap. I’ve been disappointed in nearly everything I’ve picked out to read lately. Rather than diss those authors, I’ll mention a couple of books I read a while back and did enjoy quite a bit:

Lucy by the Sea: Elizabeth Strout is a fabulous writer. She’s so skillful that she can draw readers into caring about characters who are deeply flawed, or jaggedly scarred, or just not particularly likeable. And she can write a compelling book without including a murder, or a suicide, or some awful accident. That’s real talent, and I love everything she writes.

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir by Paul Newman. There was nothing literary about this choice. I bought the book because, well, Mr. Newman was a serious hunk and I’m not yet dead. I thought it’d be “fluffier” than it turned out to be. It’s quite an interesting character study. And an enjoyable read. Also, the pictures are appealing.