Based on the true story of a modern day lynching in the early 80s in Mobile, Alabama, Like Trees, Walking left me wanting more. First time novelist Ravi Howard hits a home run with this story as seen through the eyes of Roy Deacon, heir apparent to the family funeral homes.
Though their father has always assumed they would join the family business, Roy's older brother Paul has plans of his own. When he comes upon the body of his long time friend hanging from a tree in the early morning hours, his life, and the lives of everyone around him, will never be the same.
I truly appreciated the author tackling this subject and even more so because he does so using the voices of young adults. All too often those of us that did not live through the civil rights era or who aren't up on our history are quick to dismiss events of the past. In this "post racial" era that we're supposed to be living in, it's easy to believe that things like this don't happen in modern America. This book is a reminder that it indeed does.
