Kirjahaku

Piano Days is the story of three boys growing up in the late 1950s and early 1960s in a small town doing the things young boys do; playing softball for the local church team, discovering girls, going to the record hop at the National Guard Armory on Saturday nights, and learning to drive while learning a little bit about life along the way. The townspeople impact the boys in various ways during their childhood and influence who they become as young adults. Toby, Billy, The Twins, Lannie Mae, Sue Jane, the two Tinas, Admiral Dressell, the teachers, the merchants, are there through first kisses, Friday night football games, the county fair, school pranks, high school graduation, and beyond. Readers will be taken back to a time in history they may never have experienced themselves but everyone seems to think they remember. The nameless, narrator is the catalyst among this group of friends. He is the voice of reason, judgment, and insight, and at the same time, the voice full of questions, anxiety, and sensitivity. From him we hear how hard first loves die and how easily new adventures arise to keep the summers alive for teenage boys; how the new school year stays interesting in friendly battle with the teachers and the principal; and how touching the simple, sweet memory of the annual Christmas parade down Main Street becomes in all its glory of color and sound. The boys learn the truth about race and religion. They experience the boyish excitement of a gypsy fortune teller and the responsibility of keeping a secret. They learn to dance and date and how to stay friends even through difficult times. They grow from kids on bicycles to young men knee-deep in life, with problems of their own but with enough time to come home for one another.

During the summer of 1958, a local church burned to the ground in a small town in central Virginia. While the details of what happened that early June morning were lost over the decades, Mansion Springs still has descendants who knew the people and the places involved. Our modern-day narrator is fascinated by the local legend and tries to decipher the truths from the myths. He tells the story of Rev. Og Shaffer, the minister of a neighboring church in the 1950s who found himself knee-deep in a situation that threatened not just his church building but possibly the lives of some in his congregation. One person held the answer, but it took the contribution of many of the local citizenry to peel away years of deception. Among the ashes, real and emblematic, the story unfolds through some colorful characters and plenty of conflict along the way. And in Mansion Springs, sometimes the silence rings truer than what folks say and do. Among the Ashes is a tale about everyday people experiencing events in a decade that has left its mark on our hearts. This classic Don Reid book observes the culture, music, lifestyle, warmth, and realism of that era. This story and these characters will leave you reflective and wanting to go back for more.