First published 1955
A man steps through prison gates into the blazing heat, believing freedom awaits him. Instead, his past reaches out with familiar claws. Across the South, from black bayou waters to red clay gullies, nine characters confront moments that will reshape their lives. A mysterious outsider arrives in a tight community and turns neighbor against neighbor. A family maintains elaborate facades to hide their empty pockets. A woman watches silently as her husband and his relatives scheme over falsified documents. In the dim corners of the Pair-a-Dice Bar and around kitchen tables at dawn, people wrestle with mortality, yearn to cross forbidden boundaries, and discover what they're truly made of. Grau presents her characters without sentiment or false comfort, letting their choices speak for themselves. These stories span the geography of the South and the landscape of human nature.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-driven, slice-of-life
Setting: South, Bayou, Red Clay Gullies
Period: 20th-century
293 pages · Hardcover · Random House Inc