The Morning Side

Book excerpt: "DESCRIPTIONS OF NATURE AND THE SHENANDOAH MADE ME WANT TO STRAP ON MY HIKING BOOTS." -Charles Covington In 1965, life on the morning side of the Blue Ridge Mountains feels far away from world events. Jerry Fletcher and David Williams are seniors at Rappahannock High School, ready to graduate and get on with their lives. They are more concerned with the baggage they have inherited from their parents than Civil Rights or the Gulf of Tonkin.Jerry is the only son of a family evicted from the mountains to make way for Shenandoah National Park. His path seemed set by family history and the comfort he finds in the mountains, but fate and war will take him away from home.David is the eldest son of a local fundamentalist preacher. His future seemed set in the ministry, but experiences guide him down a path that differs from his father's expectations and he must reconcile his changing world view with the values he holds dear.Debut novelist James G. Brown has published articles on life in rural Virginia and books in the fields of agroindustry and rural development and lives in the shadow of the Blue Ridge."SO MUCH TO ENJOY IN THIS POWERFUL GENERATIONAL STORY" -Charles Burnell