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Title: Dominion

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Calvin Baker

Narrator: Prentice Onayemi

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-19-15

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Fiction, Historical

Publisher's Summary:

Dominion tells the story of the Merian family who, at the close of the seventeenth century, settle in the wilderness of the Carolinas. Jasper is the patriarch, freed from bondage, who manages against all odds to build a thriving estate with his new wife and two sons - one enslaved, the other free. For one hundred years, the Merian family struggles against the natural (and occasionally supernatural) world, colonial politics, the injustices of slavery, the Revolutionary War and questions of fidelity and the heart. Footed in both myth and modernity, Calvin Baker crafts a rich, intricate and moving novel, with meditations on God, responsibility, and familial legacies. While masterfully incorporating elements of the worlds oldest and greatest stories, the end result is a bold contemplation of the origins of America.

Members Reviews:

Absolutely Wonderful

I do not understand why Dominion did not become an instant classic. It should be required reading for all middle school students. Baker is a talented author who has put a fresh spin on the American classic, a family saga set in early America. Baker is not afraid to exhibit flawed male characters even when it is politically incorrect. Nor is this book about Black Americans. This book is about all Americans, but more importantly it is about the American story. As sure as to Kill a Mocking Bird is a part of the American fabric, I find myself wondering if with a little more restraint and white characters whether or not this book would have become required reading for all.

Outstanding!

Dominion is a wonderfully imagined novel set in Colonial America at the cusp of the Revolutionary War. The story focuses on freedman Jasper Merian, his sons (Magnus and Purchase), and grandson (Caleum). The story opens with a young, anxious, and ambitious Jasper arriving in untamed Carolina territory with nothing but his drive and determination to earn enough money to purchase his enslaved family (Ruth and son, Magnus) from the Virginia plantation he left behind. He is sold "cursed" land that the locals shun because of the roaming anathema, Ould Lowe (or is it really Old Love?), whose banshee-like howls echo against the mountains and is heard for miles. He battles the demon and banishes it to the bottom of the lake and moves forward to conquer the land with backbreaking labor and an unconquerable vision of utopia. He is met with a myriad of challenges, but succeeds slowly to mold the land into a profitable farm where tobacco flourishes. When he realizes he needs a helpmeet, he seeks a wife initially for convenience. After a short courtship, he marries an older widow, fathers a son, and names his estate Stonehouses.

Baker cleverly ties the legacy of the Merian men to that of Stonehouses; their choices in life have direct bearing on their families and the estate. Jasper, Purchase, Magnus, Caleum are full-bodied noble characters, each wonderfully broken, succumbing to their passions and hiding their wounds from heartbreak deep within their souls. The author builds a rich community of friends, neighbors, and enemies around these four key characters. It is through their interrelationships that the social climate and attitude of the day, rules of courtship and class structure, complexities of the pre-Revolution political climate, the pain and cruelties of slavery, the hypocrisy of unjust slave laws, and the hard living and dying of man and beast alike are revealed.