One Night in Mississippi by Craig Shreve

160 Pages
Publisher: Dundurn, Thomas Allen Publishers
Release Date: February 29, 2015

Fiction, Civil Rights, Racism, Revenge, Multicultural, Literary Fiction, Black Fiction, African American Fiction

Warren Williams recounts the events leading up to the murder of his younger brother Graden in the 1960s. Eight men were charged with his death, but the charges were dropped. Now it is fifty years later, and Warren begins a journey to find Earl Daniels.

Earl Olsen lived with his parents but life during the depression was hard. After his mother died, he and his father moved to Mississippi. His uncle had purchased a peanut farm and was wealthy. His father was a proud man and did not take handouts. The locals made fun of his worn-out clothes and shoes and because of that, Earl began stealing. This set the path for everyone’s future. One single act changed everything.

The book has a steady pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the first-person point of view from two different perspectives. Although this is a work of fiction, many of the elements relate to true events that happened in the past into the present. If you like reading about the 1960s in the south, this would be a good read.