Tom's guest today is the novelist and nonfiction author Madison Smartt Bell. He’s written 13 novels, including a trilogy of historical tales about Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution, one of which, All Souls Rising, was a 1995 finalist for the National Book Award. He’s also written three collections of short stories and two biographies.

His latest book is a novel set in the gritty, turbulent quartiers of Paris. It includes a large cast of memorable and fascinating characters, and it explores power dynamics, zealotry, inequity and racism, in a series of events that unfold under the watchful eye of a mystical Roma woman named in the book's title: The Witch of Matongé. 

Madison Smartt Bell joined Tom Hall in our studio last month to talk about the book.  Because their conversation is recorded, we aren’t able to take any calls or emails today.

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Bell's new book is published by the Concord Free Press, which gives all of its publications away for free, online, and through a network of independent bookstores that includes the Ivy Bookshop in North Baltimore.