Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Bookworm9

Seventeen-year-old Cassie Logan, spirited narrator of "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" and "Let the Circle Be Unbroken," is now living in Jackson, Mississippi, where she attends high school and dreams of going to college. But on a visit home with her brother Stacey, the siblings and their friends face further abuse from the bigoted Ameses, which eventually causes Moe to snap and lash out violently. As the whites call for his lynching, it's up to Cassie and the others to get Moe to Memphis, where he can catch a train north.

Set on the eve of World War II, Taylor again draws a true portrait of life in the deep south in which the African-American characters are faced with hardships that threaten to cost them dearly. Her characters are always strong, and the relationships between Moe and Cassie, and Stacey and Jeremy are especially touching.