Ellen Williamson weaves an intricate narrative with settings in the north and in the south, characters both black and white, forces of good and evil. A boy from the deep south is burdened with a secret so dark and a tragedy so deep that he is compelled at too young an age to deal with forces beyond his abilities. Then a stranger, a good man with secrets of his own, gives him a strong hand up.and the story is off and running. This is a tale of contrasts, of a coming apart and a coming together, of love and hate, of hardship and healing. Carolyn Erickson In fear of his life, sixteen-year-old Billy Richards flees from Philadelphia, Mississippi and attempts to hide his identity and guilt in Buffalo New York. The enormity of his guilt and fear of being apprehended keeps him cowling in the safety of his elderly friend's barber shop. He changes his appearance and then his name to Charles Q. O'Malley, II. He is burdened with the heavy load of guilt until he is forced to face up to the enormity of his secret and makes full confession.