Although published in 2014, I just finished reading Susan Crandall’s Whistling Past the Graveyard, and I loved it. It is one of the best books I’ve read in a while, comparable to Demon Copperhead and To Kill A Mockingbird, with a little of The Help thrown in as well. Starla is the nine-year-old protagonist and narrator, and Crandall captures a child’s view of life in the South in 1963 so well – the confusion, tension, and fear brought on by racism. Starla is white and she befriends a black woman who cares for her like her own child, but this is both a comfort and a fear. Can Starla take care of and love a black woman, who clearly needs her help, while the same black woman cares for her? And what will Starla’s family say or do? The narrative voice is spectacular. Never once did I feel that I was hearing Crandall’s voice instead of Starla’s. If you haven’t gotten to it yet, Whistling Past the Graveyard is a must read.