The Road to Memphis (novel)
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| Author | Mildred D. Taylor |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Race relations |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Dial |
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Publication date
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1990 |
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Published in English
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1990 |
| Media type | Hardcover and Paperback |
| Pages | 304 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Let the Circle Be Unbroken |
| Followed by | The Land |
The Road to Memphis is a historical fiction novel written by Mildred D. Taylor. It was first published in 1990 by Penguin. It is the fourth book in the saga following: Song of the Trees, Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry and Let the Circle Be Unbroken. This would be the final book in the series chronologically to explore the story of the Logan family as a prequel to the series titled, The Land, was released in 2001.
The novel, like its predecessors, is narrated by Cassie Logan, who is now seventeen years old in the year 1941. Much has changed since the times of their childhood, Mr. Morrison has passed, When her older brother Stacey comes home with his friends Little Willie and Moe in a used car, things seem good. But they soon come across Stacey's friend Clarence fighting with his girlfriend Sissy about him joining the army. They also encounter Charlie Simms, a hateful old white man, and his son Jeremy who has a tentative friendship with Stacey along with a reputation of being nice to many of the other people of color in the community. Charlie tries to force Stacey and his friends to help him get their truck out of a ditch using Stacey's brand new car. But, instead, they simply lift the car out and Jeremy attempts to say thank you for both of them while Charlie barely even acknowledges them.
Later on, Cassie goes coon hunting, with Stacey, Christopher-John and Little Man, along with Little Willie, Harris, also Sissy's twin brother, Clarence, and Harris's dog. While going through the woods to find his dog, Cassie and Harris encounter Statler, Leon and Troy Aames along with Jeremy who are also out hunting. The Aames brothers cause trouble with Harris, talking about his weight and how he would make a good "coon". Jeremy doesn't join in at first, but does later, having been pressured by his cousins. The Aames's dogs chase Harris up a tree, and the tree, not being able to hold his weight, collapses, bringing Harris down with it. Harris suffers a broken leg and is knocked unconscious. The brothers try to apologize, saying that it wasn't really their intention and leave while Jeremy remains. Cassie goes and gets her brothers, Little Willie, and Clarence and they rush over to help Harris. Later, Harris is struggling to hold on to life. Jeremy returns to the Logan house and tries to apologize, but Stacey does not forgive him, thinking that he has changed just like his father and uncle have warned.
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