It may be 1938 in Threestep, Ga., but life is far from modern in the South on the day Miss Grace Spivey, the new schoolteacher, lands in town. Taking her place at the helm of the all-white school, it is no surprise that the Barnard-educated woman is a trifle naive about the social mores of Southern folk, especially where racial segregation is concerned. Luckily, the idealistic world traveler wins the allegiance of 11-year-old Gladys Cailiff and her hardworking family. Miss Spivey's steamer trunk bursts with the sort of artifacts and Middle Eastern costumes that can't help but set her students' imaginations alight, with the exception of the deliciously mean classroom villain, Mavis Davis, who turns up her nose at such foreign nonsense.
As fate intervenes, the children are soon learning more about the wider world -- and their own community -- than they could ever have imagined. The Cailiffs' beloved neighbor, Theo Boykin, is easily the novel's scene-stealer. At the book's start, the young black man possesses a genius IQ, but he's forced to trade schooling for back-breaking work until Miss Spivey hatches a dangerous plan. Although author Mary Helen Stefaniak possesses a special gift for breathing air into her characters, there are a few places in the narrative that feel "drafty." And even if a few too many twists occur, this engaging novel is still so lush with detail that most scenes possess cinematic immediacy. Ultimately, reading about the triumphs and tragedies of the Cailiffs will make readers feel right at home amid Georgia pines and pecans.
ANDREA HOAG
