The year is 1843, the place, New York City. Aurora reporter Walt Whitman arrives at The Tombs prison yard where his friend, Lena Stowe, is scheduled to hang for the murder of her husband, Abraham. Whitman intends to present evidence on Lena's behalf, but is turned away by the sheriff. Lena drops to her death, and Walt vows to exonerate her.
With the help of his estranged boyfriend, Henry Saunders, Walt uncovers a link between body-snatching and Abraham's murder: a man named Samuel Clement. To get to Clement, Walt and Henry descend into a dangerous underworld where resurrection men steal the bodies of the recently deceased and sell them to medical colleges. Abraham's involvement with the Bone Bill, legislation that would put the resurrection men out of business, appears to have led to his and Lena's deaths.
Speakers of the Dead is a reimagining of one of America's most beloved literary and historical figures.
J. Aaron Sanders is an Associate Professor of English at Columbus State University. His stories have appeared in Carolina Quarterly, Gulf Coast, Quarterly West, and Beloit Fiction Journal. This is his first novel.
Admission for all lectures is $5 members, $10 nonmembers, and free to AHC Insiders unless otherwise noted.
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