This powerful Southern novel takes place in Scottsboro, Alabama (the novel?s Bellefonte), between 1923 and 1946 and focuses on the life of Eileen Holder and her classmates from their sophomore year in high school through the carefree days of the 1920s, the devastation of the Great Depression, and the disruption of World War II. The theme of the novel is change?change in the American South and in the lives of the characters. Through a thoughtful development of human relationships, the author provides a memorable commentary on the ability of people to survive during times of extraordinary change. When this book was first published in 1961, Wyatt Blassingame, in the New York Times Book Review, said the author ?has a real gift for physical description, especially where used in connection with the passage of time. This is a device she uses often and extremely well.?