Thirteen-year-old Maggie Pugh has lived in Kinship, Georgia, all her life. In all that time almost nothing has changed. If you are poor, you live on the west side of town. If you are rich, you live on the hill in the north end and get to go boating at the country club in Troy. If you are white you use one bathroom at Byer’s Drugs and if you are colored you use another.
All that starts to change in the summer of 1960. It is the summer when Maggie’s younger sister, Gardenia, triumphs in the Hayes County Little Miss Contest. It is the summer when Maggie must decide whether or not to tell anyone about the horrible thing she saw. Most of all it’s the summer of Maggie’s first camera, a tool that becomes a way for her to find independence and a different kind of truth.
Reviews
- “The courage and vision of the 1960s South…are posted on Spite Fences for all to see. It is a masterful, sobering display.” — Booklist
- “A book of this caliber comes along only rarely.” — Family Life
- “Characters emerge as complex individuals, not pawns of a political agenda; Maggie’s final triumph is a tribute to all who have suffered for justice.” — Publishers Weekly
- “Through Krisher’s stunning narrative and achingly real characters, Maggie’s pain and redemption are brought to vivid life.” — Kirkus Reviews
