Safe from the Neighbors

In his fifth novel, award-winning author Steve Yarbrough plunges the reader into a history lesson. The narrator, Luke May, teaches Loring, Miss., high schoolers about local history and, on the first day of class, explains the difference between poets and historians. His wife teaches college English and writes poetry. The gulf between them is larger than their respective professions. The beginning of school brings a childhood friend back into Luke's life. Maggie Sorrentino moved away from Loring after her father killed her mother on Oct.1, 1962. As Luke becomes involved with Maggie, he researches the events of that night. The novel is saved from being a typical story about a mid-life crisis by the exploration of Luke's family history and local events. Luke's and Maggie's fathers had traveled to Ole Miss that fateful evening to make a stand against the enrollment of the first black student. Yarbrough creates believable characters; all of them have flaws and strengths. While first-person narratives can feel claustrophobic at times, Yarbrough brings the book to a natural close that allows one to understand why Luke had to tell his story. //Safe From the Neighbors// is a thoughtful novel that examines the intersection of the past and present. Reviewed by Deb Jurmu

With SAFE FROM THE NEIGHBORS, Steve Yarbrough proves once again that he's a huge talent and one of the best in the business. This might just be his most accomplished book yet, and that's saying a lot. Just a phenomenal read.

In Loring, Mississippi Luke May teaches history at the local high school. His marriage is on the rocks as he and his wife college Freshman English Professor and poet Jennifer share no interests especially since their daughters now attends the U of Mississippi. Maggie Sorrentino comes home to Loring to teach French. She left town after her father killed her mother in what was officially ruled self defense. The killing occurred the night before James Meredith entered the University of Mississippi; that same evening Maggie's father and Luke's dad were part of the White Citizens Council that drove to Oxford to prevent Meredith from attending class. Luke and Maggie begin an affair and he tries to uncover what happened on that fatal night over four decades ago. The key to this strong look at the impact of historical racism and the Civil Rights movement on subsequent generations is that Steve Yarbrough does not condemn anyone; even those who spurred by hatred tried to prevent Meredith from attending the U of Mississippi. Instead he presents his cast in 1962 and forty years later as people with faults and flaws. Readers will enjoy the amateur historian's efforts to learn the truth from a silent generation in which even his father who was there refuses to say anything while those he teaches looks at the Meredith event as ancient history. Harriet Klausner