|
In the mid-1950's, the town of Lacey in the Mississippi hill country is a pace where the lives of blacks and whites, though seemingly separate, are in fact historically and inevitable intertwined. When Lacey's fair-haires boy, Duncan Harper, is appointed interim sheriff, he makes public his private convictions about the equality of blacks before the law, and the combined threat and promise he represents to the understood order of things in Lacey affects almost every member of the community. In the end, Harper succeeds in pointing the way for individuals, both black and white, to find a more harmonious coexistence, but at a sacrifice all must come to regret. In The Voice at the Back Door, Mississippi native Elizabeth Spencer gives form to many voices that shaped her view of race relations while growing up, and at the same time discovers her own voice-one of hope. Employing her extraordinary literary powers-Spencer makes palpable the psychological milieu of a small southern town hobbled by tradition but lurching toward the dawn of the civil rights movement. First published in 1956, The Voice at the Back Door is Spencer's most highly praised novel yet, and her last to treat small-town life in Mississippi. Intro -- The Voice at The Back door -- Part one -- A speeding car -- The sheriff's advice -- The sheriff's women -- The encounter -- An evening at Duncan's -- Two old friends meet -- An hour at the Hunts' -- Miss Ada -- A deal -- A phone call -- The raid -- Jimmy Tallant's wife -- Part two -- Jimmy Tallant drives south -- Errand by night -- Beck's legal right -- The jailer -- A call to Kerney -- The squaring off -- The vigil -- The attack -- Council of war -- A path leads backward -- Picture in the paper -- Beck thinks it over -- Talk on the lawn -- The rejected ones -- A hasty conference -- The gang visits Lacey -- The point of panic -- Part three -- The sisters -- A rendezvous -- What she remembered -- The way back home -- What Tinker knew -- Jason takes a hand -- Beset on every side -- Part four -- The whisky forces -- The helpless one -- The distances between -- Robinson Dozer -- An impulse restrained -- Jimmy comes home -- Stain of the past -- Part five -- The public enemy -- The fugitive -- The all-day speaking -- The messenger -- Kerney Woolbright makes a speech -- Duncan retreats -- The public man -- Under one roof -- An army gathers -- Three children play -- The stampede -- At the store -- The challenge -- A rush to the scene -- Jimmy gets busy -- Epilogue -- When the bough breaks -- VOICES OF THE SOUTH.
|
