Author Description

Originally published by Robert R. Luce and now brought back into print by Black Belt, this classic Southern novel is the story of an old man and his grandson on an epic journey after the boy's parents are killed in a car wreck. Their trek begins when social workers threaten to put the orphaned boy in a foster home because his grandfather is considered too old and too poor to look after him. The grandfather believes the boy belongs with his kinspeople back in Alabama, and he resolves not to let the boy be taken from him. Out of scrap lumber and some discarded wheels, the old man builds a little trailer in which he and the boy can stash a few possessions. Then, with only a few dollars and no other resources except a fierce pride, the pair set out walking from Virginia to Alabama, taking turns pulling their "gitaway box." It is a classic journey, and along the way the boy learns self-reliance, ingenuity, and a moral code that may seem quaint to some yet is deeply satisfying.