Reading Guide for The Green Age of Asher Witherow by M. Allen Cunningham
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About The Green Age of Asher Witherow
In this mesmerizing first novel by a gifted young writer—a number one Book Sense pick for October—the drama of California's rich immigrant history and the freshness and wonder of childhood combine with darker elements of legend, magic and mystery. Pulitzer Prize winning author Robert Olen Butler calls it "a startling accomplishment . . . an enchanting novel by a lushly talented young writer." Tom Franklin, author of Hell at the Breech, says, "Cunningham is a writer we'll be hearing a lot more from." And Laurel Johnson of the Midwest Book Review calls it "a book to be savored . . . It has my highest recommendation."
Born while the Civil War is raging further east, young Asher Witherow seems marked for an extraordinary future. Anything but typical, he captures the attention of the eerily watchful apprentice minister and schoolteacher, Josiah Lyte, and of young Thomas Motion, a strange boy who can see into the deepest darkness.
When Thomas mysteriously vanishes, only Asher knows the truth of what has happened to him, and he must decide whether to keep his knowledge secret or reveal what he believes to be his own unforgivable mistake. It is an agonizing moral decision that will forever affect the lives of those closest to him and that will ultimately have a profound impact on all of Nortonville.
In breathtaking language that contrasts the striking landscape of California's Diablo Valley with the harsh details of life in an 1870s coal-mining boom town, M. Allen Cunningham takes us to an extraordinary time and place. It is a time when the brutal hardships of daily life are leavened by a sense of miraculous change just around the corner. It is a place of sensual, almost supernatural beauty, peopled with remarkable characters—like the highly unconventional Lyte, the "pagan" midwife Sarah Norton and Asher's beloved friend and closest confidante, the otherworldly Anna Flood.
Impeccably imagined, sensitive and real in its portrayal of a young boy confronting unanswerable questions with grace and strength, The Green Age of Asher Witherow is a remarkable book that convincingly shatters the equation of childhood and innocence.
About the Author
The writings of M. Allen have appeared in various well-known literary magazines, including Glimmer Train, Boulevard, Epoch and Alaska Quarterly Review. For almost two decades he has lived in the popular Diablo Valley of Northern California, the setting for his first novel, The Green Age of Asher Witherow. The book was conceived when Cunningham first came upon the valley's history and an account of its once-flourishing Black Diamond mines. "I knew I'd found a kind of allegory to hold up against the Diablo Valley's current onslaught," he says. "Here was an era of immense growth and activity, ultimately swallowed up by the greater workings of history."
Questions for Thought and Discussion
1. Setting is so central to The Green Age of Asher Witherow that it almost becomes a character. Why is the natural landscape of the Diablo Valley so important, especially to the younger characters in the novel?
2. Several myths, legends and systems of belief are mentioned in the novel. There is the traditional Protestant Christianity of Reverend Parry and the Nortonville residents; there is Josiah Lyte's own unique version of Christianity; there is the Hinduism that influences him during his childhood in India; there are the Native American legends of Indian tribes that first named the mountain and the Celtic myths and stories of Asher's Welsh ancestors. Do these "underpinnings" make the events of the story clearer or more puzzling to you?
3. Sarah Norton is a disturbing character in the novel. As a midwife (and, in Anna's case, an abortionist), she is suspected by some people in Nortonville of being a witch. She lives alone, apart from her husband, and her solitary activities include gathering Indian artifacts and planting a new cottonwood tree for each child she delivers. Why do you think the author "drew" her this way?
4. The coal miners of Nortonville are a proud people. What seems to be the nature of that pride, and what are its main sources?
5. Asher's mother, Abicca, is among the many citizens of Nortonville who believe the young minister, Josiah Lyte, is ungodly and dangerous (though her repeated attempts to keep Asher away from him fail). But in his conversations with Asher, Lyte doesn't seem so much dangerous as different. In your opinion, does Josiah Lyte pose a real threat to the town?
6. Why is Josiah Lyte so interested in Asher? Is it simply because the boy is a gifted student, or is there more to it than that? When Asher tells Lyte that he killed Thomas Motion, why does Lyte refuse to tell anyone?
7. Thomas Motion teaches Asher to see in the dark. It is an ability that Asher must struggle to learn. This ability abandons both Asher and Thomas once they are underground (which leads to Thomas's death). Why can't they see in the dark there? Later, Asher discovers that Anna Flood can also see in the dark. Why do you think she already has this gift?
8. What draws Asher to Anna Flood? Why is Anna so certain from the start that they will be friends? How do the events of the story cause their relationship to develop and change?
9. The Green Age of Asher Witherow is a historical novel, with many realistic details of nineteenth-century California and the mining town of Nortonville. Yet certain elements of the story are more magical than real: the young characters' ability to see in the dark; the flowers Asher sees sprouting from frozen ground at several funerals; the mysterious characters of Josiah Lyte and Sarah Norton. Why do you think the author chose to include these elements of magic and mystery?
10. The elder Asher gives us hints about how his life proceeded between the time Nortonville's mining industry declined and he left the town until the present time (1950) when he is writing his story. What do you imagine may have happened to him in the years in between? What do you think has driven him to write the story of his early years in Nortonville?
Suggested Reading
D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers
Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley
Tawni O'Dell, Coal Run
John Steinbeck, East of Eden
William Faulkner, Light in August
Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain
Donald Harington, With
Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
Kiki Delancey, Coal Miners' Holiday
Russell Freedman, Kids at Work: Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor
Barbara Freese, Coal: A Human History