Missing Isaac

· Baker Books
4.0
1 review
Ebook
352
Pages
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About this ebook

There was another South in the 1960s, one far removed from the marches and bombings and turmoil in the streets that were broadcast on the evening news. It was a place of inner turmoil, where ordinary people struggled to right themselves on a social landscape that was dramatically shifting beneath their feet. This is the world of Valerie Fraser Luesse's stunning debut, Missing Isaac.

It is 1965 when black field hand Isaac Reynolds goes missing from the tiny, unassuming town of Glory, Alabama. The townspeople's reactions range from concern to indifference, but one boy will stop at nothing to find out what happened to his unlikely friend. White, wealthy, and fatherless, young Pete McLean has nothing to gain and everything to lose in his relentless search for Isaac. In the process, he will discover much more than he bargained for. Before it's all over, Pete--and the people he loves most--will have to blur the hard lines of race, class, and religion. And what they discover about themselves may change some of them forever.

Ratings and reviews

4.0
1 review
Joni Hill
February 8, 2018
I was so excited to start this debut novel from author Valerie Fraser Luesse. The first thing I usually notice about a book is its cover and I totally loved this one. Missing Isaac is a beautifully written story that takes place during the 1960’s in the small southern town of Glory, Alabama. The main character was Pete, an eleven year old boy who loses his father to an accident at the beginning of the book. Pete has an unlikely friend on the farm, a field hand named Isaac who works for his grandpa. Pete feels that his mom is so sad about the death of Pete’s dad that he doesn’t want to add to her sorrow by showing his. So Pete shares his feelings with Isaac about his father’s death. Then one day out of the blue, Isaac disappears. Pete is left now without his best friend and he is determined to find out what has happened to him. There were so many things that I loved about this novel. First the author is just flat out an AMAZING storyteller. The plot was original and flowed smoothly. The characters were believable and wonderfully developed. The dialogue and interaction between the characters was realistic and smooth flowing. Valerie Fraser Luesse’s descriptive prose brings Glory, Alabama and its inhabitants vibrantly to life. Missing Isaac is a story of class and race in the 1960’s South…a story of loss, unlikely friendships, and a boy’s determination to not give up on his friend…. I hope this is the beginning of a long writing career by this gifted storyteller. Four out of five stars for Missing Isaac!!! Thank you Valerie Fraser Luesse, Revell, and BookishFirst for providing me with a review copy of this book to read.
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About the author

Valerie Fraser Luesse is an award-winning magazine writer best known for her feature stories and essays in Southern Living, where she is currently a senior travel editor. Her work has been anthologized in the audio collection Southern Voices and in A Glimpse of Heaven, an essay collection featuring works by C. S. Lewis, Randy Alcorn, John Wesley, and others. As a freelance writer and editor, she was the lead writer for Southern Living 50 Years: A Celebration of People, Places, and Culture. Specializing in stories about unique pockets of Southern culture, Luesse has published major pieces on the Gulf Coast, the Mississippi Delta, Louisiana's Acadian Prairie, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Her editorial section on Hurricane Katrina recovery in Mississippi and Louisiana won the 2009 Writer of the Year award from the Southeast Tourism Society. Luesse earned her bachelor's degree in English at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, and her master's degree in English at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She grew up in Harpersville, Alabama, a rural community in Shelby County, and now lives in Birmingham.

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