Slow Way Home

Named a best novel of the year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the St. Louis Dispatch, Slow Way Home is "timely as much as it is touching", says the Dallas Morning News.

Wise beyond his years, Brandon understands he's the only one in this world he can count on. It's an outlook that serves him well the day his mama leaves him behind at the Raleigh bus station and sets off to Canada with "her destiny" - the latest man that she hopes will bring her happiness. The day his mother leaves, Brandon takes the first step toward shaping his own destiny. Soon, he finds himself spending pleasant days playing with his cousins on his grandparents' farm and trying to forget the past. In the safety of that place, Brandon finally is able to trust the love of an adult.

But when Sophie Willard shows up a year later with a determined look in her eye and a new man in tow, Brandon's grandparents ignore a judge's ruling and flee the state with Brandon. Creating a new life and identity in a small Florida town, Brandon meets the people who will fill him with self-worth and self-respect. He slowly becomes involved with "God's Hospital", a church run by the gregarious Sister Delores, a woman who is committed to a life of service for all members of the community, black and white, regardless of some townsfolk's disapproval.

Slow Way Home is a tender yet completely unsentimental tale of survival, triumph, and redemption. Listeners will be gripped by its pitch-perfect evocation of the South in the 1970s, when the gains of the Civil Rights Movement were still tested at every turn.

©2004 Michael Morris (P)2016 Michael Morris