NewSouth

"Behold, This Dreamer" by Charlotte Miller, NewSouth Books, P. O. Box 1588, Montgomery, Alabama 36102,
510 pages, $27.95, hardcover.

By Lois Scott

This is a novel, set in the framework of actual history--against the backdrop of a small farm and sharecropping life of the South in the final days of King Cotton. This story pulls the reader into the world of love, hope, poverty and heartbreak, in which the protagonist is pulled one way by his love of the land and another way by his love of a woman.

Janson Sanders, part Cherokee, part poor, but proud white, is intent on avenging his father's death and taking back the land stolen from him by a wealthy planter.

Parentless and alone, Janson sets out, hoping a freight train with only a few biscuits and some cold pieces of chicken to his name. Thus begins a journey across the South to earn enough money to return home and reclaim his birthright.

He eventually settles on rich landowner William Whitley's land, working alongside the poverty-stricken sharecroppers during the day and bootlegging illegal liquor at night, hoarding what little money he earns toward the redemption of his own land. Along the way, he falls in love--in spite of himself--with Whitley's daughter. Separated by class and culture, the two young lovers struggle with their own differences while trying to keep their relationship secret from her father.

"Behold, This Dreamer" reminds us of what we hope never to lose; our true history, the details of our land, and--like it our not--some brutalities and inequities that accompanied the development of our country. There are dark corners and murky details in our past that we'd like to bury. But this book probes deep, illuminating something raw and evil swept under the carpet of time.

Here we see the story of a man characterized by his hard work, ingenuity and pride, stand with dignity and respect against overwhelming odds. It's also a love story in which love triumphs.