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). (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

YA‘McEachin captures the flavor of the oral tradition upon which the rural South has been built. He sets his story in decidedly unreconstructed, small-town North Carolina, where Moses, a young slave, spins a riveting tale about his dignified "uncle" Ben; a disastrous plantation fire; and, above all, his own distant white father who will not acknowledge paternity. Moses tells his story to an audience of four old-timers who are passing the time of day in Millan's General Store. YAs will readily comprehend the moral stain of slavery upon the national psyche. The message resonates in 1996 as clearly as it did in the post-Civil War era: Emancipation generated bitterness and anger among whites even as it sparked those same emotions in blacks. McEachin's writing adds serious history to the folksy mood, resulting in an effective use of the folk genre. The magic of storytelling dominates the writing, thus avoiding the unpalatable "preacher's tale" effect.‘Margaret Nolan, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A subtle and richly textured first novel by film and television actor McEachin. The setting is Red Springs, North Carolina, the period just postCivil War. Seventeen-year-old Moses, a former slave, makes his way to McMillan's General Store where four old white men--J.D., Silas, Shep, and C.D. McMillan--sit around rehashing the past and ruing the end of slavery and the new rights afforded ``coloreds.'' But Moses has a tale to tell and--because he's wearing a tuxedo, seems exceedingly well-spoken, plies the men with cognac, and professes to find the end of slavery a grave mistake--they listen to him as he spins the story of Archibald McBride, a white plantation owner who loved Charlotte, a black slave, and who scorned his wife Mildred. Moses also tells of Ben, another former slave but friend to Archibald, as well as Mildred's secret ex- lover, and he relays the trials of Archy and Charlotte's son, doomed to the particular prejudice shown those of mixed parentage throughout history. To the men in McMillan's store, the story rings all too familiar; when Moses reaches his story's climax--the vicious murder by fire of Archy and Ben at the hands of four white men who didn't like whites mingling with blacks--the old men begin to wonder whether Moses is Moses McBride, and whether his visit, and retelling of a story they know all too well, having lived it, has a larger purpose. When Moses asks the men if they would change history if they could, and they say no, they're walking into their own graves; rest assured that justice is served, but the ending manages to be satisfying without seeming pat. Clearly, McEachin is a man who can wear many hats: a sophisticated debut performance in print.