On my recent travels, I was reading an advanced copy of Ravi Howard‘s Like Trees Walking. This first person narrative is a fictionalized account of one of the last hangings in the south. The authors lightly places elements in the book to remind us of the times in which the story occurred such the social setting, music and dance fads and values of the times. The young man in the story belongs to a prominant family which has high expectations for his future and for that of his brother. In fact, the entire community is vested in its children. True to his age, our storyteller is filled with so many doubts about himself and the world around him! Then, someone he personally knows is found hanging from a tree. Murder? Suicide? Motives? Reactions? The author uses the family’s mortuary business to help the narrator explore themes such as race, success, family, death, faith and religion. Unfortunately, as I was finishing this reading and finding our how everthing was coming together, I left my book on an airplane. Now, I’ll have to wait for the book to be published early ’07 and finish reading the copy I purchase for my school library.