It is the era of transistor radios and 45s, mom and pop stores and family farms, Eisenhower and JFK. Elvis is big. The place is Marysville, Kentucky, a small town tucked into the hills along the Ohio River. 

A boy is so poor that his uncle fries up blackbirds for supper. A high school senior and her female golf coach fall in love. The town photographer writes bad checks and disappears. People brace for a rumored race riot. A girl remembers fragments of a past life. A draft notice arrives in the mail. A boy’s best friend is a stray dog. 

These are the stories, in language lyrical and elegiac, where small moments have large meanings, and where the characters have destinies you will never forget.