In this fine novel, Colby Grayson learns that coming-of-age is sorely more than a passing formality in his rural eastern Kentucky community. On his 13-year-old shoulders rests the near impossible task of helping his family survive after the untimely death of his father, Vernon. The circumstances are daunting, even for the strongest of mature adults. He knows there is a tobacco crop to raise and a household of hungry mouths to feed; and then, there s the matter of Mama's singing, which is consequential to a family secret.
Steeped in the sense of place and traditions of the past, where "hardship was more than tolerated, where it was expected and accepted," the community reaches out to heroic Colby and the Graysons, both overtly and stealthily. But what beckons, the good folk find, is eerily more than their assistance in the fields and help with financial resources; it's their help in confronting the harsh reality of Mama s need to sing.
—Steve Flairty, author of the Kentucky's Everyday Heroes series