A Savage Wisdom

An imaginative reconstruction of the life of the only woman executed in Louisiana's electric chair.A work of alternative history, A Savage Wisdom changes the story of Toni Jo Henry into a redemptive parable—a study in deception and personality transformation.The novel also dramatizes rumors surrounding the young beauty’s deathrow dalliance with a handsome young sheriff.In this treatment, Toni Jo escapes the Great Depression and moves toward a world full of promise, only to be dragged into the alluring but dangerous underworld of New Orleans.These maneuvers place the novel in company with In Cold Blood, Truman Capote’s book that launched the genre of “faction,” fiction based on fact."Here is a powerful, page-turning account of crime and punishment, told in terms of the literary tradition of true crime stories that includes Capote’s In Cold Blood and Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song. Norman German has created a worthy companion to and version of this all-American genre." George Garrett, novelist and poet laureate of Virginia"Norman German’s novel follows the hard life and heinous crimes of Toni Jo Henry, the first and only woman to die in Louisiana’s infamous electric chair. The novel meets this bone-chilling story head-on, and it leaves the reader burning with the heartless brutality of the tale. Read A Savage Wisdom to see the darkness and comprehend its cold light." Dayne Sherman, author of Welcome to the Fallen Paradise