Straw in the South Wind Author:Donald Joseph Jacket text: — ...the novel is set in the South just after the turn of the century (1900), when there was little of what we now call liberalism, and hinges upon private reactions to a spectacular public episode, the core of the novel lies in its gradual and dramatic revelation of the shattering of a family. — When public prejudice becomes menacing... more » in a case involving a prominent local citizen and his Negro mistress the judge's wife has to choose between private loyalty and her sharp sense of justice.« less