The Spaces That Hold You is a tragic and heartwarming story about the life of Levi Strong, a boy who is swept into the most difficult of circumstances. It is the 1960s in Kelsey, a place left behind by the dustbowl migrants in California. A slow Southern drawl clings to the words of the young, as their inheritance from the hard working people of its past. It settles easy on young Levi, as the pulse of its history dances in his own voice.
The underpinnings of racism hold tight to the town, pushing Levi to face the indelible harm of indifference from those like himself, who can blend easily into the fold, as they stand by in silence, while others unfurl their tongues and fists on those they perceive to be different.
Levi's mother, Katharine, is an orphan and Levi is just simply fatherless, a matter that keeps him in constant wonder about who in the world might possibly be his dad. Katharine is mute on the subject. She keeps many secrets. Some, Levi gives witness to, but the worst of them will change everything, when he is forced to question all that he has ever known about his mother and himself.
Join Levi on his journey of discovery. This remarkable story contrasts the depths of sorrow with the best in human nature. Readers will see through a child's eyes, the story of survival, with an enduring sense of poetry and hope even through the hardship.