Seraph on the Suwanee is a 1948 novel by African-American novelist Zora Neale Hurston. It follows the life of a White woman and the fraught relationship she has with her husband and family. The novel is noteworthy for its exploration of "white crackers" in Florida. Despite being her only White novel, Hurston's intention was to depict the linguistic and cultural similarities between White and Black people living in the South. However, Seraph on the Suwanee has never been well received by African-American critics and scholars, who have often treated the novel as a "contrivance in Hurston's canon". It is Hurston's last published novel, and is the only novel by Hurston about White characters. It was written after her publisher rejected two novels about Black characters. She was eventually able to get the novel published by Scribner's. Plot Unlike her other novels Zora Neale Hurston's Seraph on the Suwanee deviates from the characteristic depiction of African American life by featuring a predominately White cast of characters. The novel follows the life a Southern White woman named Arvay Henson and her family. The story is told through alternating points of view, usually between that of Arvay and her husband, Jim Meserve. The novel begins with a description of the fictional West Floridian town of Sawley. The town is described as being relatively impoverished and a place where "work was hard" and "pleasures few." Although the years the stories take place in are never explicitly stated, it is implied that the first half of the novel occurs during prohibition. When Arvay is first introduced, she is twenty-one years old and ages progressively as the novel continues. Arvay is described as a timid, helpless girl who "turned from the world" soon after her sister, Lorraine, married Reverend Carl Middleton, whom she secretly admired. At the time, Arvay had been sixteen and believed that Lorraine went after Carl to spite her. After this betrayal, Arvay became increasingly insecure, and chose to dedicate her life to the Bible. Her dedication to her religion becomes a recurring theme in the novel and a source of contention between her and her husband. After Carl married Larraine, Arvay started to believe that no one could ever love her. Her insecurity also extended to her body. The narrator states that her skinny stature was "not exactly in style in those parts" and many of the locals often teased her regarding