The Cock’s Spur
The Cock’s Spur is the third novel in Charles F. Price’s trilogy about life in North Carolina in the late nineteenth century. Although a follow on from Hiwassee and Freedom’s Altar, The Cock’s Spur can be read in its own right without recourse to the other two. There are various individual stories unfolding in the novel, but all weaving in and out of each other to form a coherent thread. Price’s writing has tremendous power and clarity, and I say with delight that his characters are firmly of their time. There is not a shred of political correctness in the pleasure that the character of Hamby takes in fighting his cocks in the pit, no delicacy in the descriptions of the terrible symptoms of consumption and dementia, or the torture of an informer by moonshiners. The novel is very dark at times and is not for the squeamish, but it is also tremendously uplifting and possessed of a spiritual resonance. In my opinion it well deserves the accolade of being the Independent Publisher’s outstanding book of 2001.
