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Torched: Summer of ‘64
"Joe Edd Morris has honed a bullet aimed directly at the heart and soul of the reader." –Peggy Webb, USA Today bestselling author of The Language of Silence
"Torched is a gripping novel of forbidden love, and friendship across racial divides." –IndieReader Approved
Torched finds Sam Ransom at his first pastoral appointment in Holmes County, Mississippi, in the summer of ’64. At a civil rights rally, he is reunited with two friends from his childhood. His decision to join their efforts to rebuild a black church torched by nightriders sets all three on a collision course with the Klan and two grisly murders. The story is about interracial friendship and romance, the ultimate sacrifice, atonement and redemption.
"Torched is a gripping novel of forbidden love, and friendship across racial divides." –IndieReader Approved
Torched finds Sam Ransom at his first pastoral appointment in Holmes County, Mississippi, in the summer of ’64. At a civil rights rally, he is reunited with two friends from his childhood. His decision to join their efforts to rebuild a black church torched by nightriders sets all three on a collision course with the Klan and two grisly murders. The story is about interracial friendship and romance, the ultimate sacrifice, atonement and redemption.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
187 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 21, 2020
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1396 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 8, 2021
1964 - Mississippi
A timely and riveting book inspired by real people/events.
At a civil rights rally, Sam Ransom who is at his first pastoral appointment in Holmes County, Mississippi, is reunited with two childhood friends. Will their reunion be a happy one or one marred by tragedy? Meeting and spending time with friends is a wonderful thing, but this book is set during the Freedom Summer of 1964 and there is racism, the Klan, the fight for equality, danger, love, a sense of loyalty and duty.
This book is exceptionally written and provided to also be education for me. Inspired by true events, this book had me looking up more information on the Freedom Summer of 1964. There are parts that will be uncomfortable for some to read. Read them anyway.
Thought provoking, moving, and gripping.
Thank you to Black Rose Writing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
A timely and riveting book inspired by real people/events.
At a civil rights rally, Sam Ransom who is at his first pastoral appointment in Holmes County, Mississippi, is reunited with two childhood friends. Will their reunion be a happy one or one marred by tragedy? Meeting and spending time with friends is a wonderful thing, but this book is set during the Freedom Summer of 1964 and there is racism, the Klan, the fight for equality, danger, love, a sense of loyalty and duty.
This book is exceptionally written and provided to also be education for me. Inspired by true events, this book had me looking up more information on the Freedom Summer of 1964. There are parts that will be uncomfortable for some to read. Read them anyway.
Thought provoking, moving, and gripping.
Thank you to Black Rose Writing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.
June 14, 2020
Torched is a novel about the Summer of 64 and the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi. Sam is a young white minister doing an internship in his childhood hometown. He reconnects with two close childhood friends, both of whom are black. He joins them in advocating for civil rights, very much against the wishes of most of his parishioners.
This is a work of fiction, but contains many facts about the civil rights movement. It is a story of love and friendship between Sam, Sharon, and Early, but also shows the ugliness of racism at that time, and the effects it had on everyone.
Anyone interested in the history of the civil rights movement should read this book.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley. My review is voluntary.
This is a work of fiction, but contains many facts about the civil rights movement. It is a story of love and friendship between Sam, Sharon, and Early, but also shows the ugliness of racism at that time, and the effects it had on everyone.
Anyone interested in the history of the civil rights movement should read this book.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley. My review is voluntary.
June 28, 2020
Torched is a novel about the Summer of '64 and the Civil Rights movement in Holmes County, Mississippi. It tells a story of Sam Ransom, a white pastor who has been sent back to his home town on intership during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. It is also a story of childhood friends seperated by race but joined in a fight against injustice.Unfortunately the road to justice and equality will not be easy and blood will be shed. Their reunion results in a tragedy and two murders. These events cause Sam Ransom a lifetime of guilt and urge him forward on a search for redemption.
Torched is a work of fiction but is at its core heart breakingly fact driven. This book could not have come at a better time then now. It is the "slap in the face" and "wake up call" of a book THAT WE NEED to read in light of recent events in US. This book isnt an easy light read, it will weigh heavily on your heart and mind long after you close its pages. But I urge anyone who gets the chance to read this novel to do so.
I recieved a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley im exchange for an honest review.
Torched is a work of fiction but is at its core heart breakingly fact driven. This book could not have come at a better time then now. It is the "slap in the face" and "wake up call" of a book THAT WE NEED to read in light of recent events in US. This book isnt an easy light read, it will weigh heavily on your heart and mind long after you close its pages. But I urge anyone who gets the chance to read this novel to do so.
I recieved a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley im exchange for an honest review.
February 4, 2021
Mixing historical facts with a personal story is a much used tool in novel writing. If it's well done the reader will get a glimpse of the atmosphere of thee time the story is taking place.
Joe Edd Morris has done an excellent job describing Mississippi in 1964. He obviously knows what he's writing about and he creates real people. The atmosphere of fear is palpable, as is the attitude "one of them or one of us".
The story is believable, relatable and tragic and is delivered with excellent writing skills.
Joe Edd Morris has done an excellent job describing Mississippi in 1964. He obviously knows what he's writing about and he creates real people. The atmosphere of fear is palpable, as is the attitude "one of them or one of us".
The story is believable, relatable and tragic and is delivered with excellent writing skills.
June 26, 2020
Overall Rating = 4.95
Storyline & Concept = 5
Writing & Delivery = 5
Editorial = 4.85
Torched: Summer of ’64, set in Mississippi, tells the story of three friends, two black and one white, who become friends as children, go their separate ways, and meet again in 1964 at a civil rights rally. Their reunion culminates in a tragedy involving the Klan and results in two murders, setting in motion a lifetime of guilt and the search for redemption.
There is not enough to be said for the quality of this novel, both in the writing and the story itself. To say it is timely is obvious. It’s also touching, thought-provoking, explosive, heart-breaking, and riveting. It explores the complexities of interracial friendship and romance through the eyes of a white pastor who is torn and confused by duty, guilt, love, and loyalty. It immerses the reader in the time and setting of Mississippi with the expertise of a true Southern writer. Each character is created and drawn with a soft and skilled touch. This novel is highly recommended and will remain among my favorites.
Sublime Line: “A highly recommended, riveting tale of interracial friendship and love and the challenges they incite, written with an authentic Southern flair.”
Storyline & Concept = 5
Writing & Delivery = 5
Editorial = 4.85
Torched: Summer of ’64, set in Mississippi, tells the story of three friends, two black and one white, who become friends as children, go their separate ways, and meet again in 1964 at a civil rights rally. Their reunion culminates in a tragedy involving the Klan and results in two murders, setting in motion a lifetime of guilt and the search for redemption.
There is not enough to be said for the quality of this novel, both in the writing and the story itself. To say it is timely is obvious. It’s also touching, thought-provoking, explosive, heart-breaking, and riveting. It explores the complexities of interracial friendship and romance through the eyes of a white pastor who is torn and confused by duty, guilt, love, and loyalty. It immerses the reader in the time and setting of Mississippi with the expertise of a true Southern writer. Each character is created and drawn with a soft and skilled touch. This novel is highly recommended and will remain among my favorites.
Sublime Line: “A highly recommended, riveting tale of interracial friendship and love and the challenges they incite, written with an authentic Southern flair.”
May 22, 2020
A Magnificent Tale of Race, Romance, and Redemption
Joe Edd Morris’s majestic new novel Torched takes the reader into the cauldron of 1964 Mississippi where racial tensions exploded into precipitous violence, an upheaval that would ultimately lead to the uneven progress of the ensuing years. Morris’s compelling narrator Sam Ransom enters into this turmoil as a young man of the cloth, a white southerner whose childhood was blessed by his relationships with two black friends Early and Sharon Rose and with the black preacher Uncle Giles. Brave, wise, and preternaturally restrained, Uncle Giles serves as the moral lodestone for both Sam and the entire novel.
Confronted with the specter of attacks on African-American churches and communities, Sam struggles mightily with his loyalties to serving his local churches as assistant pastor and to abiding by his sense of decency in trying to help southern blacks in their call for basic rights. Sam’s internal struggles are psychologically astute and remarkably nuanced, capturing the ethical tenuousness of a white southerner who can only see so clearly through the prism of his race and heritage. His reacquaintance with those childhood friends Early and Sharon Rose will give his subsequent decisions an urgency and a force that are both inspiring and unreservedly intense.
This tension is fueled by the looming presence of the Klan, its members endlessly intimidating and faithfully backing their threats with burnings and murders. And into this turmoil is a correspondingly passionate interracial romance between Sam and Sharon Rose. In the midst of their commitment to the cause, the lovers are deliciously conflicted: “Guilt became a hot wind whipping through the windows.” Without giving away too much of the plot, let’s just say wondrous actions will transpire at the burnt-out black church – a church that the civil rights leaders are determined to rebuild and that the Klan is equally committed to destroy. Man, oh man, Torched builds such suspense that the final half of the novel is absolutely riveting.
Joe Edd Morris can flat-out write. He evokes places, characters, and historical moments with eloquence and resonance. A typical passage reads, “I thought of Early’s hostility and wondered again what had happened to our childhood camaraderie, those bonds of adventure and risk, imagined dangers and dramatic escapes. … I thought of lazy summer days we lay on cushions of clover and gazed at the sky and solved our salvation beneath puzzles and the word ‘drift’ came to mind. The winds of our cultures had blown us apart.”
Ultimately, Torched is simply a great story about the racial complexities situated at the locus of the American psyche. The novel captures one of the central events of the Twentieth Century in poignantly human terms. The reader cannot help but care deeply about Sam, Sharon Rose, and especially the mercurial Early who seems to carry on his thin shoulders all of the suffering and anguish piled onto black America. Indeed, the latter portions of the novel are fraught with ironies and memories alternately vexing and ennobling. Yes, Torched is so redolent with that Summer of 1964 that it stays with reader as if it’s his own indelible reminiscence.
Joe Edd Morris’s majestic new novel Torched takes the reader into the cauldron of 1964 Mississippi where racial tensions exploded into precipitous violence, an upheaval that would ultimately lead to the uneven progress of the ensuing years. Morris’s compelling narrator Sam Ransom enters into this turmoil as a young man of the cloth, a white southerner whose childhood was blessed by his relationships with two black friends Early and Sharon Rose and with the black preacher Uncle Giles. Brave, wise, and preternaturally restrained, Uncle Giles serves as the moral lodestone for both Sam and the entire novel.
Confronted with the specter of attacks on African-American churches and communities, Sam struggles mightily with his loyalties to serving his local churches as assistant pastor and to abiding by his sense of decency in trying to help southern blacks in their call for basic rights. Sam’s internal struggles are psychologically astute and remarkably nuanced, capturing the ethical tenuousness of a white southerner who can only see so clearly through the prism of his race and heritage. His reacquaintance with those childhood friends Early and Sharon Rose will give his subsequent decisions an urgency and a force that are both inspiring and unreservedly intense.
This tension is fueled by the looming presence of the Klan, its members endlessly intimidating and faithfully backing their threats with burnings and murders. And into this turmoil is a correspondingly passionate interracial romance between Sam and Sharon Rose. In the midst of their commitment to the cause, the lovers are deliciously conflicted: “Guilt became a hot wind whipping through the windows.” Without giving away too much of the plot, let’s just say wondrous actions will transpire at the burnt-out black church – a church that the civil rights leaders are determined to rebuild and that the Klan is equally committed to destroy. Man, oh man, Torched builds such suspense that the final half of the novel is absolutely riveting.
Joe Edd Morris can flat-out write. He evokes places, characters, and historical moments with eloquence and resonance. A typical passage reads, “I thought of Early’s hostility and wondered again what had happened to our childhood camaraderie, those bonds of adventure and risk, imagined dangers and dramatic escapes. … I thought of lazy summer days we lay on cushions of clover and gazed at the sky and solved our salvation beneath puzzles and the word ‘drift’ came to mind. The winds of our cultures had blown us apart.”
Ultimately, Torched is simply a great story about the racial complexities situated at the locus of the American psyche. The novel captures one of the central events of the Twentieth Century in poignantly human terms. The reader cannot help but care deeply about Sam, Sharon Rose, and especially the mercurial Early who seems to carry on his thin shoulders all of the suffering and anguish piled onto black America. Indeed, the latter portions of the novel are fraught with ironies and memories alternately vexing and ennobling. Yes, Torched is so redolent with that Summer of 1964 that it stays with reader as if it’s his own indelible reminiscence.
May 10, 2021
What a journey tracing a white boy, his Black friend, and the Black girl they grow up to love. Wonderful story of the South and the duplicity of men who praise the Lord on Sunday and kill Blacks on Saturday.
July 31, 2020
This was a great read. Set in Mississippi in the Summer of 64, it follows a white preacher in the south, reconnecting with his black childhood friends in a time where it could cost them their lives to be seen together. The author did a fantastic job of setting the scene with alot of attention to imagery. The story was heart breaking and thought provoking. Really enjoyed this book.
July 11, 2020
Very intense and heartfelt
This was a great book and especially timely given the protests we have seen. The subject of racism is a sensitive one and painful more so for its victims. As the story conveys, victims in the Civil Rights era include whites who risked their lives to help African-Americans in their fight for equality. Had there been more, there would not have been any victims on either side, which, given the well-known legacy of oppression in the South, suggests that most Southern ' Christians' (or so they thought themselves) either actively supported a racist regime or were content to stay on the sidelines and turn their backs. The sacrifice of those brave whites, many of them young people, who dared stand apart is truly significant and deserves remembrance. This story, though fictional, echoes their fear, confusion, and courage through the ages, reminding us that the way of Christ does not speak to convenience, but faith and endurance, total submission to His message of love and salvation even at expense to ourselves.
This was a great book and especially timely given the protests we have seen. The subject of racism is a sensitive one and painful more so for its victims. As the story conveys, victims in the Civil Rights era include whites who risked their lives to help African-Americans in their fight for equality. Had there been more, there would not have been any victims on either side, which, given the well-known legacy of oppression in the South, suggests that most Southern ' Christians' (or so they thought themselves) either actively supported a racist regime or were content to stay on the sidelines and turn their backs. The sacrifice of those brave whites, many of them young people, who dared stand apart is truly significant and deserves remembrance. This story, though fictional, echoes their fear, confusion, and courage through the ages, reminding us that the way of Christ does not speak to convenience, but faith and endurance, total submission to His message of love and salvation even at expense to ourselves.
March 12, 2021
Torched: Summer of '64 by Joe Edd Morris is a beautifully penned novel, written in the 1st person POV, about how difficult life was in 1960s in Ole Miss, as the Civil Rights movement gains momentum. Morris masterfully brings the drama alive, with the added bonus of an underlying and intriguing interracial love story, as he is tasked with showing the horror of racial hatred, the great continuing sin of America that destroys the equality of opportunity promised to all in the Declaration of Independence. You won't be able to put this novel down as it winds toward an explosive climax. You will treat yourself to masterfully crafted prose by a great novelist!!! A truly great novel dealing with American themes relevant to America today. A must-read!!!
June 11, 2020
Tirchex: Summer of '64
This novel had a great bit of history infused with the southern life in Mississippi durng the civil rights movement. It dealt with the innocence of young Sammy & Earl's friendship. One that last their lifetime. Sam's parents uneasy relationship with Earl's mom LuLu, their housekeeper. The fact that one became a bishop & the other was lynched & set on 🔥 while home on his college break was sickening to say the least.
I would definitely recommend this book by the author Joe Edd Morris. It's an eye opener.
This novel had a great bit of history infused with the southern life in Mississippi durng the civil rights movement. It dealt with the innocence of young Sammy & Earl's friendship. One that last their lifetime. Sam's parents uneasy relationship with Earl's mom LuLu, their housekeeper. The fact that one became a bishop & the other was lynched & set on 🔥 while home on his college break was sickening to say the least.
I would definitely recommend this book by the author Joe Edd Morris. It's an eye opener.
October 8, 2020
What a compelling story this was! Having grown up in Holmes County, Mississippi, I was touched to the core by stories of how black people were treated when I was a young girl. Even though this is a fictional novel, the reality of what did happen in that time caused grief and shame for what white people did to resurface in my heart. The love story woven throughout the book was touching. Though it was difficult to read some of the book, I could hardly put it down and read more than half of it in one sitting. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more books by Joe Edd Morris.
March 14, 2021
This is an excellent novel that uses historical facts with fictional characters to create a compelling, timely, and intense narrative about interracial friendship, love, and violence in Mississippi in the 1960s. I love the author's writing style. The character development and the flow of the story made it very difficult to put down. A highly recommended read.
September 4, 2023
Summer of '64
Dangerous times in Mississippi when you are black and fighting for Civil Rights. This is a fictional story of young friends of different races and the challenges of the times that they have to deal with.
Dangerous times in Mississippi when you are black and fighting for Civil Rights. This is a fictional story of young friends of different races and the challenges of the times that they have to deal with.
January 5, 2021
Heartbreaking truths
One of the best tellings of facts about the 1960s. Very well written... characters so believable. Hard to put down. Recommend this author highly.
One of the best tellings of facts about the 1960s. Very well written... characters so believable. Hard to put down. Recommend this author highly.
January 23, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. Solid story and writing. Interesting topic. A good read.
February 8, 2021
Great Reading
This story was and is relevant in today's times. I couldn't wait to read the next chapter. Loved how it ended with forbidden love being fulfilled with happiness.
This story was and is relevant in today's times. I couldn't wait to read the next chapter. Loved how it ended with forbidden love being fulfilled with happiness.
March 2, 2021
Kindle Unlimited
A quick read! Enjoyed and will recommend!
A quick read! Enjoyed and will recommend!
September 6, 2023
This book was emotional for me. Good description of what the times were in those days in the south.
January 27, 2024
This book speaks of how childhood friends of different races grew to find their challenges increased as they aged.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews