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Secrets Within
Jake didn't feel the world tilting out of alignment, just a strong magnetic pull toward the peculiar boy: a positive charge drawing closer to a negative charge, two polar opposites inching, nearing, drawing ever closer to a cataclysmic collision.
Tennessee in 1959 is shrouded in shadows cast not only by the land's oak-hickory forests, but its enduring and grisly racial oppression. With much of the land devoted to farming, many sharecrop for the landholders. As they mend fences across the land's mosaic to keep cattle from roaming, they simultaneously erect brick walls along racial lines.
It's in this world that Jake and Mahal, young teenagers, etch out their lives. Jake anxiously anticipates graduating from high school to move where skin color does not illicit harsh words or violence. Mahal, an imaginative hep cat, strives to find his place in a society teeming with corruption and bigoted citizens who gouge out individuality with sharp, serrated teeth.
Railing against all societal mores, Jake and Mahal become lovers. Even having witnessed lynchings and castrations for frivolous infringements, Jake and Mahal risk their lives and families for their rights and relationship. Join them as they journey through the land of men with pillowcase faces, searching for a place illuminated by unconditional acceptance.
Tennessee in 1959 is shrouded in shadows cast not only by the land's oak-hickory forests, but its enduring and grisly racial oppression. With much of the land devoted to farming, many sharecrop for the landholders. As they mend fences across the land's mosaic to keep cattle from roaming, they simultaneously erect brick walls along racial lines.
It's in this world that Jake and Mahal, young teenagers, etch out their lives. Jake anxiously anticipates graduating from high school to move where skin color does not illicit harsh words or violence. Mahal, an imaginative hep cat, strives to find his place in a society teeming with corruption and bigoted citizens who gouge out individuality with sharp, serrated teeth.
Railing against all societal mores, Jake and Mahal become lovers. Even having witnessed lynchings and castrations for frivolous infringements, Jake and Mahal risk their lives and families for their rights and relationship. Join them as they journey through the land of men with pillowcase faces, searching for a place illuminated by unconditional acceptance.
268 pages, Paperback
First published February 20, 2009
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September 21, 2014
Awesome book. Couldn't put it down.
Displaying 1 of 1 review