Tell Me a Tale: A Novel of the Old South

Years after the Civil War, Moses, a 17-year-old former slave, journeys back to the isolated North Carolina town where he had been born to arrogant white plantation owner Archie McBride and his young slave mistress. Posing as a pro-slavery journalist, Moses enters a general store where he buttonholes four old codgers who pine for ``the good old days of servitude.'' Though these unreconstructed racists don't recognize their visitor, they once had committed arson and murder that had shattered the young man's childhood. As Moses indirectly confronts them with tales of the buried past (tales in which he is the unnamed protagonist), a powerful drama of one man's search for identity, justice and vengeance unfolds. Moses's narrative, shot through with Faulkneresque overtones, tells how he was raised by ex-slave ``Uncle'' Ben, a loyal laborer on Archie's estate; how, though an illegitimate, mixed-race child, he inherited the entire property, thanks to the machinations of Archie's vengeful wife; and how his dream went up in flames, making him an orphan. The subtext of McEachin's stunning first novel is the moral rot of slavery, its harmful effects on both white and black and its lingering legacy in deep-rooted prejudice. (Feb.) ~ FYI: McEachin, a veteran film actor (True Grit), was among the first African American actors to be the sole lead in a dramatic series (Tenafly).