Days of Little Texas

Ronald Earl, at the center of this multidimensional coming-of-age/ghost story, earned the moniker “Little Texas” at age 10, after performing a spontaneous healing while touring with his great-aunt's tent-revival ministry. But at 16, burgeoning sexual feelings and the apparition of a girl named Lucy, who died when he failed to heal her, cause Ronald to question his integrity as a spiritual leader. When Ronald loses his composure on stage, his great-aunt and his two evangelical companions take him to a former slave plantation to deliver what is hoped to be his greatest sermon and to drive out a malicious force there. However, Ronald's understanding of the spiritual realm becomes even murkier as his relationship with Lucy develops. A chilling yet tender presence, Lucy challenges Ronald's beliefs with provocative insights: people who do “evil things” are “Already in hell. Nothing can be worse... than to live the life they are already living,” she explains. At a dramatic final crossroads, Ronald discovers a kind of personal solace, but Nelson (Breathe My Name ) offers no easy revelations, instead suggesting that human nature may be as unknowable as the supernatural. Ages 12–up. (July)