Synopsis
It’s 1959 in Benevolence, Florida, and life is as sweet as a Valencia orange for 15-year-old Dove Alderman. Whether she’s sipping cherry Cokes with her girlfriends and listening to the Everly Brothers, eating key lime pie made by her housekeeper, Delia, or cruising around town with the coolest boy in school in his silver-blue T-bird convertible, Dove’s days are as smooth and warm as the soft sand in her father’s orange groves.
But there’s trouble brewing among the local migrant workers. Mysterious fires have broken out, and rumors are spreading that disgruntled pickers are to blame. Suddenly, black and white become a muddy shade of gray, and whispers of the KKK drift through the Southern air like sighs. The Klan could never exist in a place like Benevolence, Dove tells herself. Or could it?
From the Hardcover edition.
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Review
Benevolence, Florida, in the late 1950s doesn't seem like it could be the scene of ugly racism and violence. Fifteen-year-old Dove Alderman reads poetry, strolls through her daddy's orange groves, and rides around with Chase Tully in his silver-blue T-bird convertible. So when fires start breaking out in the groves, and nasty spats happen on the streets of Benevolence, the truth is slow to dawn on Dove. Her awakening is agonising, but ultimately freeing.
In this complex and moving novel by Joyce McDonald (Swallowing Stones, Shades of Simon Gray), a privileged teen discovers that the line between right and wrong is often blurry, but important to establish. McDonald delves into the chilling world of the Ku Klux Klan, depicting the fear at the core of the hatred. Dove's education will parallel that of young readers who may not yet comprehend the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which one group can fear and oppress another--even half a century after this story takes place. --Emilie Coulter, Amazon.com
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