Based on the inspirational life of Robert Smalls, Fragments of the Ark explores the American Civil War through the eyes of its most deeply wounded souls. Against this chaotic backdrop, the novel sweeps readers into Mango's heroic quest for the most basic of human rights—a safe haven to nurture a family bound by love and not fear, and the freedom to be the master of his own life.
Louise Meriwether is a novelist, essayist, journalist, and social activist with family ties to South Carolina. Her first book, Daddy Was a Number Runner, a fictional account of the economic devastation of Harlem during the Great Depression, was the first novel to emerge from the Watts Writers' Workshop. Meriwether followed with the publication of three historical biographies for children on Civil War hero Robert Smalls, pioneer heart surgeon Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, and civil rights activist Rosa Parks. Her most recent novel is Shadow Dancing. A member of the Harlem Writers Guild, Meriwether has taught creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and the University of Houston.