Home in the Morning by Mary Glickman

Meredith had been recommending this book to me for a long time before I finally got around to it.  The story was really unusual and I'm glad I read it.

The story follows Jackson, a Jewish boy growing up in Mississippi, into adulthood.  Growing up in the 1960's, he sees a lot around segregation and Civil Rights, and befriends some black children his age.  In particular, he harbors a childhood crush on Katherine Marie, and fondly remembers childhood exploits with Lil' Bokay.  As an adult, he marries Stella, a young woman from Boston which may as well be a million miles away from the Mississippi he grew up in.  Spanning three decades, the story evolves an unusual set of relationships among these four people.

Glickman's attention to detail in her character development was a delight to read - she puts her characters in very specific circumstances that show their characteristics and development.  Her alternating different time periods was a good way of keeping me interested and wanting to know both what was going to happen as well as what had happened. 

What I liked the most, however, was how well she was able to capture the feeling of being a newer, younger, generation.

I notice Glickman has a second novel out that I will add to my list of books to read.