Burnt Pot Island

“In the haunting coastal waters and marshes of early twentieth-century Georgia are the beautiful but devastating voices and perspectives of three generations of slave descendants. Told with a deep understanding of the region’s natural beauty and dark legacy, Burnt Pot Island weaves together the Geechee struggle. Opportunities are scarce, degrading, or dangerous, and progress is slow, yet on every atmospheric page, the characters’ resiliency and certainty propels and shapes their success story.”


—Carter Schwonke, author of A Good Day to Start





“Burnt Pot Island vividly depicts a time and a place in the deep South when racism was in full swing, survival was hard, and compromises had to be made, taking us into a time and a place like few books about the region. Readers of this moving and unique story won’t quickly forget this author’s fine work, and like me, will look forward to whatever she writes next.”


—Rosemary Daniell, author of The Murderous Sky: Poems of Madness & Mercy





“The natural beauty on Skidaway Island is so elusive and rare that it cannot be fully captured in photographs. . . . Karen Dove Barr deftly weaves descriptions of this wild and glorious place with a page-turning narrative that at its heart is about a mother and daughter dreaming about escaping their lot in life. . . . One reads with bated breath to see how it will all end—and enjoys every step of the ride.”


—Brienne Walsh, Freelance Writer for Millie, Forbes, and Marketwatch