First published 2004
Dan Timms works for his uncle in 1943, driving a mobile store through Mississippi's Delta plantations alongside L.C., a young black man who has become his unlikely companion. Dan dreads his approaching draft notice, which will pull him away from his mother, still grieving his father's recent suicide, and thrust him into a war he's not ready to face. The plantations they visit now rely on German prisoners of war for labor, men whose fighting days have ended in capture. Dan's friend Marty Stark has returned from combat under mysterious circumstances and now guards the same German soldiers he once fought against. While Dan and Marty grapple with their uncertain futures as soldiers, L.C. faces dangers closer to home in a society that offers him few paths to freedom. Each man finds himself trapped by circumstances beyond his control, whether by war, race, or family tragedy, as they navigate a world where escape feels both necessary and impossible.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, military-fiction
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Mississippi, Delta
Period: 1943
304 pages · Hardcover · Knopf
Content warnings: war