Karen B. (skyfeather) reviewed on 5/1/2007 + 194 more book reviews

In the summer of '61, Homer "Sonny" Hickam, a year of college behind him, is dreaming of sandy beaches and rocket ships. But before Sonny can reach the seaside fixer-upper where his mother is spending the summer, a telephone call sends him back to the place he thought he had escaped, the gritty coal mining town of Coalwood, West VA. There, Sonny's father, the mine's superintendent, has been accused of negligence in a man's death. Sonny's mother, Elsie, has ordered her son to spend the summer in Coalwood to support his father. For Sonny, so begins a season of discovery-a time when he will learn about love, loss, and a closely guarded secret that threatens to destroy his father and his town. As the days of summer grow shorter, Sonny finds himself taking the first real steps toward manhood. But it's a journey he can make only by unraveling the story of a man's death and a father's secret-the mysteries tha lie at the very heart of Coalwood.

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