Envious Shadows
Envious Shadows is a marvelous book. It is about a black and white relationship which has strength to resist the intermittent brutality of human nature. The book never lags for a instant, and it is full of realistic details which range from dealing with the psychological integration of half-way house residents into society, the intricacies of the game of softball, the atmosphere of pubs, the challenges facing building contractors, the mindset of the KKK, to the correct planting of roses. There isn't a pompous moment in it and it is loaded with quiet wit, with seriousness, with irony, and through it all there shines not only a knowledge of literature but a knowledge of life.