Thursday, October 13, 2011

Safe From the Neighbors



Steve Yarbrough's Safe From the Neighbors is on my list of books to read for the Read From Your Shelves challenge. I started it a week ago while riding my Airdyne bike and was happy I had a title that kept me wanting to keep exercising.

Lucas May is a high school history teacher in his hometown, a small southern town affected by James Meredith's enrollment in college. Now years later, May begins thinking of this time in his life again, especially when the new French teacher arrives in town and May realizes that this is a girl he grew up with long ago. Maggie's mother was killed be her father the night of this key civil rights movement event, and May begins to solve what really occurred that night and how Maggie's mother was killed.

May's own marriage begins to unravel, and he faces a variety of challenges including his parents' aging and health concerns, his daughters' departure for college, and his attraction to Maggie, his new co-worker.

I enjoyed this story and Yarbrough's writing. I could relate to May, probably because of his role as a teacher, and wanted things to work for him. It is always interesting to like characters, yet not agree with the decisions they make, and I found myself frustrated with many of May's actions.

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