Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming

Book excerpt: It's October 1945, and the gospel-singing Sanders Family is back together again. The war is over, and America's years of prosperity are just beginning. But there's another kind of rite of passage at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, where Reverend Mervin Oglethorpe is giving his last service. He's been called to preach in Texas, and he's already bought a ten-gallon hat and is preparing to ride into the sunset with his wife, June, who is eight months pregnant. Tomorrow morning, young Dennis Sanders