Book Review | Two Rivers: De Trouble I Be See by Bob Rogers | Win a Hardback Copy | Excerpt ~ Book Trailer ~ Guest Post from the Author | #HistoricalFiction #CivilWar #SouthernAntebellum @iReadBookTours @BobRogers13
A book blog tour from iRead Book Tours.
Thank you to the author, publisher, & Lauren at iRead for providing me with the information for this tour. 
Book Details
Two Rivers: De Trouble I Be See by Bob Rogers
Published by BookLocker on August 4, 2023
Genres: Adult Fiction 18+, Fiction, Holiday Fiction, History
Format: eBook, Hardcover, Paperback
Pages: 365
Source: iRead Book ToursJuly 1854, Colleton District, South Carolina
A half-dozen years before Abe Lincoln’s inauguration, comes another collision between European immigrants and African abductees that does not end well.
By 1854, the Tiffany family had enslaved over 300 Africans for more than a century on the 1,100-acre slave labor camp that they called the Tiffany Plantation. The Tiffany's were the largest rice producer in South Carolina’s Colleton District. While the toil of enslaved Africans earned untold riches for the Tiffany's, the Africans endured violence inflicted to force increased rice production and profits followed by the indignity of the bodies of loved ones being stolen from their graves and delivered to a medical school.
Determined to put a stop to robberies of African graves was Posey, an eighty-four-year-old man whose ancestors came from the shores of the Bigh of Biafra, now known as Nigeria. It was Posey’s expert river-irrigation skills that made Tiffany crops successful.
More conflict arose when James, the new general manager at Tiffany, realized that Posey’s expertise would be essential for the success of a plantation he planned to gain with ill-gotten money and slave mortgage-backed securities. All the while, the widow Ella, an enslaved nurse-midwife, sought to realize her dream of marrying widower Posey. Matters grew worse when Posey thwarted James’ first attempt to force his attention on Penny, a comely young enslaved wife and mother.
Rich with history and a cast of unforgettable characters, Two Rivers is a sweeping saga of two peoples, European immigrants and African abductees. Together, they experience courtships, infanticide, homicide, rape, rebellions, revenge, sabotage, storms, high-stakes gambling, grave-robbing, counterfeiting, and more.
“De troubles Posey be sees” in Two Rivers reminds one of Southern Gothic storytelling.
Content Rating: R. My book is rated R because of foul language, rape, infanticide, and homicide.
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Excerpt from Two Rivers
Chapter 1: The Burying Ground
At 9:31 pm, Posey’s arrow pierced the grave-robber ’s heart. Not far away, a great horned owl sounded,“hoo-h’HOO-hoo-hoo.” With his mouth agape from pain and surprise, the grave-robber looked down at the shaft of the hickory arrow in the middle of his chest. His black bowler hat fell into the partially opened grave. The man’s grip tightened on his wooden-handled iron meat hook. He staggered backward, then forward, and fell face-first into the grave. Though down and dying, the robber’s fist still held the meat hook used to insert under the corpse’s collar bone and extract it from the box in which it was buried.
Posey spat in disgust at the thought of his sister’s body being hoisted from her grave with a meat hook designed to hang the carcass of a hog or cow for butchering. He fought to keep his loathing from interfering with his self-appointed mission of ending, at least for a time, body snatching from this burying ground. The resurrectionist’s white shirt had made him an easy target in the waxing first quarter moonlight that warm Sunday evening, July thirtieth, in 1854.
Perched on a limb of an ancient live oak draped with Spanish moss, Posey readied another arrow from his crocus quiver. Chuck-will’s-widows’ calls abounded from near and far as they feasted on mosquitoes that they caught in mid-air. Though the small brown birds made Posey’s favorite night music, he did not hear the birds now as he concentrated on finding his nocking point and aiming a second shot.
A digger shoveling at the foot of the grave screamed when his boss tumbled and landed at his feet. Dropping his shovel, he dug his fingers into the damp ground at the edge of the grave and hoisted himself up and out. The former digger ran behind another member of the gang of robbers, who were already scurrying toward their wagon and waiting team of horses. Though the robbers came from Charleston, the burying ground where they labored was in Colleton District on the north edge of the vast Tiffany rice farm. Tiffany Plantation, as the owner called it, was on the west bank of the wide Pon Pon River that separated Colleton from Charleston District.
Posey’s next arrow stopped the lead runner as it landed less than a foot in front of him. The former digger collided with the back of his halted, trembling comrade. A deep voice from the tree line at the edge of the burying ground said, “Halt! Don’t move!” Without moving their feet, both men looked in the direction whence the voice came. One of them flatulated. A nearer great horned owl answered the first,“hoo-h’HOO-hoo-hoo.” The voice from the tree line spoke again.“Return. Gather your comrade. Sell his carcass in place of the body you came for. Of course, you get a better price for a fresh white body.”
The voice sounded again with an insidious, blood-curdling laugh. The stupefied robbers shivered though the night was warm. The twosome remained frozen in their tracks. Posey glanced westward at the moon, appearing to rest atop the hundred-foot-tall bald cypress trees of Snuggedy Swamp. The first quarter moon was providing only about thirty percent of its maximum luminosity. It would soon set, about an hour before midnight, leaving only starlight. Posey spoke again in his disguised voice, “Move your asses. You don’t have all night.”
The robbers clutched each other ’s shirtsleeve, holding fast to the only support available. Still, they did not move. Posey said, “Dammit! Move now! Or one of you will get my next arrow.” In a shaky voice, the white robber said to his black comrade, “W-w-we’d better d-do as he says. I don’t wanna die.” “Me, needa!” Turning toward the open grave, the white robber said, “Let’s git de boss and git de hell outta heah.” The black enslaved man said, “Time atter time, I done tol’ oona [you] white folks dat de call o’ de hootieowl means deaf! But no-o-o…” “Oh, hesh up wid de ‘I told you so’ and let’s git movin’. Quick!”
Watching the tree-line but seeing only trees, both men took two cautious steps toward the open grave, then ran the remaining distance. Leaping into the grave, they grabbed their leader by his legs and armpits and unceremoniously heaved his body up onto the ground beside the grave. When they climbed out, Posey said,“ Now, put the dirt back like you found it.” The robbers shoveled at a frantic pace…
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Purchase Links for Two Rivers
Amazon-OneLink for all countries BookShop/IndieBound
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Book Trailer
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My thoughts on Two Rivers
“Two Rivers: De Trouble I Be See” by Bob Rogers is a gripping historical fiction novel set in July 1854, Colleton District, South Carolina, a half-dozen years before Abe Lincoln’s inauguration. This book vividly portrays the collision between European immigrants and African abductees, revealing a story that doesn’t end well.
The Tiffany family, who enslaved over 300 Africans on the Tiffany Plantation for more than a century, becomes the focal point of this narrative. As the largest rice producer in South Carolina’s Colleton District, their riches came at the cost of violence inflicted on the enslaved Africans for increased rice production and profits. The theft of the bodies of loved ones from their graves for medical purposes adds another layer of indignity.
The character of Posey, an eighty-four-year-old man with roots in the Bight of Biafra (now Nigeria), emerges as a central figure. His river-irrigation skills are crucial to Tiffany’s crop success, and he becomes determined to stop the grave robberies. Conflicts intensify when James, the new general manager at Tiffany, seeks Posey’s expertise for his own plantation plans and ill-gotten wealth. Meanwhile, the enslaved widow Ella, a nurse-midwife, dreams of marrying Posey, and tensions rise as Posey protects Penny from James’ unwanted attention.
“Two Rivers” is a richly detailed narrative filled with unforgettable characters. It delves deep into courtships, infanticide, homicide, rape, rebellions, revenge, sabotage, storms, high-stakes gambling, grave-robbing, counterfeiting, and more. The book powerfully highlights the cruelty inflicted by fellow humans and offers a heartbreaking look at the history of African Americans during this period.
Bob Rogers’ storytelling is reminiscent of Southern Gothic, and he skillfully weaves together history and fiction to create an immersive reading experience. This is not a light read; it’s an intense exploration of a dark chapter in American history. “Two Rivers” is a must-read for those who seek to understand the complex and painful past of African Americans during the antebellum era. If you think you know everything about this period, let Mr. Rogers open your eyes to the truth.
I received a copy of the book for the tour. This review is my honest, unbiased opinion.
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I love to read books through my Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription.
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About Bob Rogers
Bob Rogers is the author of the historical novels First Dark and The Laced Chameleon, which earned critical acclaim from Kirkus Reviews, San Francisco Review, and Baltimore Examiner. Bob is a meticulous researcher, known to spend extra time, magnifying glass in hand, deciphering 18th and 19th-century handwriting for “just the facts, ma’am.” Bob, a former U.S. Army captain and combat leader during the Vietnam War in Troop A, 1/10 Cavalry, finds his topographic experiences useful in field research. If not closeted in libraries or museums, you are likely to find him walking centuries-old rice fields, battlefields, or in a canoe following the river trails of his characters.
He studied at South Carolina State University and the University of Maryland.
Bob tends his flowers, okra, and tomato plants in Mérida, Yucatán, México.
Connect with the author:
website ~ facebook ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads ~ bookbub ~ youtube ~ Amazon
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Guest Post from Bob Rogers, Author of Two Rivers
Once Upon a Large Rice Farm
“From the perspective of slaveholders and other free whites, the freedom to enslave was an economic freedom.”—Caitlin Rosenthal, Accounting for Slavery, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2018.
Two Rivers is the novel I wanted to read. I was looking for a novel that illustrates long-held myths born of enslavers and perpetuated by their legacy and sympathizers—so I wrote it. These old myths continue following African Americans century after century. Speaking of myths, after nearly twenty years of pushing one of them aside, one remains prominent in my memory. They are the words a university creative writing classmate said to me, “Your presentation has a poor premise and makes no sense. How can a slave plan an escape? Don’t you know, everyone knows slaves couldn’t think?” I experienced this question in the twenty-first century. Now I ask, how many more harbor such ignorant myths of laziness, low morals, savagery, low mental ability, and worse—all attributed to African Americans?
Late in the twentieth century, large rice farms (called plantations by owners) in the Low Country of South Carolina became a fascination for me. I am from the hills of the Piedmont region. I visited former rice plantations in Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, and Georgetown Counties dating back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. That resulted in me giving South Carolina Low Country roots to the protagonist in my novel, First Dark, set in 1863-1882.
My on-the-ground and on-the-river research led to the discovery of a specific abandoned rice farm. That long ago farm in Colleton County that was brought to life again in First Dark. The fields of that ancient rice farm and certain characters from First Dark live again with new inmates in Two Rivers, which is set on the banks of the Pon Pon River in 1854-1855. Today, the same river is called the South Edisto River.
While exploring the river between rice farms, I rowed my canoe toward a “log” on the bank for a rest stop. When I was too close for comfort, I realized the “log” was an alligator longer than my fourteen-foot canoe. In my excited rapid acceleration away from the alligator, I ripped the web between my thumb and forefinger. No matter the blood and pain, I escaped. I transferred that experience to my protagonist in First Dark.
Two Rivers, the prequel to First Dark, opens another window into the lives of Africans and Europeans living day-to-day in 1854-1855. They lived on the same rice farm, struggling to benefit their families, hoping to realize the secret dreams each had. I hope Two Rivers starts some retrospection, realization, and reason leading to the overdue death of long-held myths from America’s past.
Bob Rogers
October 2023
Mérida, Yucatán, México
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Purchase Two Rivers online from your local bookstore.
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Easy Amazon Links
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Giveaway!
Win a hardback copy of Two Rivers: De Trouble I Be See, courtesy of the author (one winner) (USA only) (ends Nov 17)
Please visit more stops on the tour for extra chances to win!
Official Tour Page for Two Rivers
Full Tour Schedule:
Oct 23 – Liese’s Blog – books spotlight
Oct 24 – Pick a Good Book – books spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Oct 25 – StoreyBook Reviews – books spotlight / author interview / giveaway
Oct 26 – Novels Alive – book review of FIRST DARK / giveway
Oct 26 – Book Corner News and Reviews– book review of FIRST DARK / giveaway
Oct 27 – Book Corner News and Reviews– book review of TWO RIVERS: DE TROUBLE I BE SEE / giveaway
Oct 30 – Welcome To MLM Opinion’s Reviews – book review of FIRST DARK / giveaway
Oct 31 – Leanne Bookstagram – book review of FIRST DARK
Nov 1 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of FIRST DARK / giveaway
Nov 1 – Leanne Bookstagram – book review of TWO RIVERS: DE TROUBLE I BE SEE
Nov 2 – Gina Rae Mitchell – book review of FIRST DARK / giveaway
Nov 3 – Authors on iTours: Let’s Talk Books – book review of FIRST DARK
Nov 6 – Stephanie Jane – books spotlight / giveaway
Nov 7 – Welcome To MLM Opinion’s Reviews – book review of TWO RIVERS: DE TROUBLE I BE SEE / giveaway
Nov 8 – Locks, Hooks and Books – book review of TWO RIVERS: DE TROUBLE I BE SEE / giveaway
Nov 8 – Novels Alive – book review of TWO RIVERS: DE TROUBLE I BE SEE / giveaway
Nov 9 – Gina Rae Mitchell – book review of TWO RIVERS: DE TROUBLE I BE SEE / guest post / giveaway
Nov 10 – Authors on iTours: Let’s Talk Books – book review of TWO RIVERS: DE TROUBLE I BE SEE
Two Rivers: De Trouble I Be See by Bob Rogers Book Tour Giveaway
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Book Title: Two Rivers: De Trouble I Be See by Bob Rogers
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 333 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: BookLocker
Release date: June 19, 2023
Tour dates: Oct 23 to Nov 10, 2023
Content Rating: R. My book is rated R because of foul language, rape, infanticide, and homicide.
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