The Book of the Dead by Elizabeth Hurston

The novel's power comes in part from its incorporation of the sort of vivid folk material reported in mules and men. There are oblique references to hoodo, for instance, a root doctor consulted by joe starks when he falls ill. It has been speculated that janie herself may be inspired by a hatian voodo goddess named ezili. Hurston does not use dialect to differentiate black from white characters because there are almost no white characters. Her aim is to show the richness and also the diversity of thern black culture from the inside as it were.