Jim Grimsley

"In August of 1966, Jim Grimsley entered the sixth grade in the same public school he had attended for the five previous years in his small eastern North Carolina hometown. But he knew that the first day of this school year was going to be different: for the first time he'd be in a classroom with black children. That was the year federally mandated integration of the schools went into effect, at first allowing students to change schools through 'freedom...

Winner of the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. On a snowy Thanksgiving day in North Carolina, a dreamy eight-year-old is pushed headlong into the adult world by a violent quarrel between his parents. Jim Grimsley's brilliant first novel unfolds in a strikingly unconventional way—as the boy tells himself his own story. A shattering story of heartbreak, violence, and the endurance of the spirit. "Tell everyone."—Dorothy...

"The trailer Ronny grew up in was never a home; at least not in the sense of a haven. He shared it with his mother and a succession of husbands, learning to keep to himself, get good grades, work toward a scholarship (since no one was going to pay for college other than him). At the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Ronny's made some friends, kept his secrets, survived dorm life, and protected his heart. Until he can't. Ben is in some ways...

Ever since Ellen Tote can remember, she has dreamed of her mother walking slowly into a river. The mystery of this memory, as it unfolds in her recollections, is the haunting story of MY DROWNING.