As a novelist Yerby has gained laurels by focusing upon white rather than Negro characters. Performance—and not pigmentation—has been the basis of his success….

The recipe for Yerby's achievement in fiction is not new. It is an old one used many times before but still sufficiently toothsome to please the literary appetites of American readers. It is the recipe of Southern historical romance: a bold, handsome, rakish, but withal somewhat honorable hero; a frigid, respectable wife; a torrid, unrespectable mistress; and usually a crafty, fiendish villain. These characters, with their conflicting passions, are brought together in the land of mansions and magnolias during a period replete with social, political, and racial strife. The result is sufficient to satisfy any reader who likes bloody fights and sexy romance. (p. 12)

The Foxes of Harrow reflects painstaking study of the Louisiana milieu and its history. Steamboat races, lavish social...