Missing Isaac
This novel takes place in the 1960s in racially charged small-town Alabama. It follows the coming of age of Pete McClean, the son of well-to-do landowners. Their African American farmhands are rooted deep in their religious faith despite their poverty. Pete’s recently deceased father, Jack, and his grandfather have a family tradition of respect for those who worked for them, cutting against the racial and socio-economic standards of the time. Isaac, one of the senior farmhands, has a special relationship with the family and steps in as an emotional surrogate for the father Pete idolized.
One day during Pete’s thirteenth year, Isaac mysteriously disappears. Pete overhears that Isaac may have been killed by a group of young white men, his body dumped to be devoured by pigs in a disreputable backwoods compound. With his mother’s encouragement, he sets out to seek justice for Isaac and bring his bones home for proper burial. Pete’s interaction with the owners of the pig farm—themselves social outcasts despite their white skin—proves a journey of self-discovery and social exploration as he falls in love with the eccentric Pickett family’s youngest daughter, Dovey.
Relationships both historical and new in the town’s complex family structure come to light as Pete uncovers mysteries he had not set out to find. While a little emotional in style and occasionally lacking clarity of perspective, Missing Isaac is an accessible, luring read with authentic historical feel and compelling social relevance. Recommended for fans of the period.
