Past haunts S.C. plantation

It is said that the American South is a haunted land -- haunted by the region's violent past and by the shades of the long-dead people who were part of that past.

The claims of the past take on a decidedly supernatural cast in "Back to Wando Passo," the fifth novel by Hillsborough writer David Payne. Wando Passo is the unusual name of a storied place, a former rice plantation in the South Carolina backcountry with a history pre-dating the Civil War. The setting for long-ago acts of interracial lust, bloodletting and vengeance, Wando Passo is haunted -- not by the restless ghosts that roam other stories of what Flannery O'Connor famously called the "Christ-haunted" South, but by the spirits of an ancient and earthy religion, that of voodoo.

Into this steaming world strides Ransom Hill, a middle-age, white North Carolinian. A rock musician who has seen better days, he's a blundering man who has neglected to take the meds that prevent his speaking and acting in an obnoxious, hyperactive way. Ran has left New York and come to South Carolina seeking to reconcile with his estranged wife, Claire, and his young children, Hope and Charlie.

Since time out of mind, Claire's family has owned Wando Passo and its dark secret: Shortly after the Civil War, Claire's great-great-great-grandparents walked out of the house one day and vanished without a trace. This is the stuff of family legends, but as Ransom discovers, the word "legend" does not necessarily imply falsehood.

Within a day of his not-entirely-welcome arrival, Ran discovers that all is not normal, natural or right at Wando Passo. He discovers an overturned iron caldron partly buried in the ground, containing strange artifacts. Standing in the front yard, he spots a mysterious figure silhouetted in an upstairs window of the empty house. Someone (or something) breaks into the house and leaves a huge mess but takes nothing. Daughter Hope begins speaking of a black dog she sees wandering the upstairs halls at night. Then a landscaper's backhoe and dozer uncover a pair of human skeletons -- directly beneath the spot where Ran had earlier found the overturned caldron.

And that's not the sum of Ran's problems. He strongly suspects that Claire is having an affair with a former bandmate, a black man from whom Ran stole some lyrics for his band's solitary hit single, "Talking in My Sleep." Unloved by his pathetic brute of a father, Ran has looked for love everywhere, all his life. Twice he found it, first in the arms of a beautiful black woman named Shante, whose mother disapproved and broke up the developing romance, and again with Claire, who put her aspirations on hold so Ran could chase his dreams of musical stardom. Ransom sees his relationship with Claire slipping away and in need of defending -- with deadly force, if necessary.

Ran's struggles echo and are haunted by the long-ago events of interracial love, jealousy and murder that haunt Wando Passo. During the Civil War-era, a love grew between the white mistress of the plantation, Addie DeLay, and her husband's half-brother, a black servant named Jarry.

The son of a Cuban woman, who is a conjure-woman, and the elderly master of Wando Passo, Jarry is a well-educated, well-spoken man who helps Addie understand the sins of slavery, the value of freedom, the beauty of love and the sacrifices it demands. Their love grows and is consummated, and it seems that all will end well for them -- until Addie's husband, long rumored dead in the war, returns home and discovers Jarry and Addie's relationship. Violence ensues, and the curse of Wando Passo is set in motion -- for Ransom Hill to untangle 140 years later, after he enlists the aid of Shante and her knowledge of the ancient religion that permeates the old place.

In the end, Payne asks us to question whether we are bound by the evils of the past or can break free of them. Is forgiveness possible for the deepest hurts? Is love stronger than death?

These are weighty questions that permeate a remarkable novel, written by a master craftsman. The accurately captured, formal speech patterns of Addie and the other 19th-century characters contrasts sharply with the short, declarative sentences of Ransom and the modern-day characters. Some of Payne's sentences may cause the reader to simply pause and admire, as where he describes one cold-blooded character whose "eyes had turned indifferent as the sea." While the author's otherwise informative explanation of racial histories and African religions can seem a bit hard to follow at some points, this is a minor concern. "Back to Wando Passo" is a novel not to be missed by readers who appreciate an intriguing, well-crafted story, one that draws one's thoughts into matters often feared and avoided, written in language that fairly sings.

(James E. Person Jr. is the author of "Earl Hamner: From Walton's Mountain to Tomorrow.")