Although her birth mother doesn't answer her letters, Whitney finds her father, Sam Kirby, a gay cartoonist living in New York, wondering about the child he knows is out there and returning to his southern roots."--BOOK JACKET.

Told in the authors' alternating voices, "Cleaving" is both the story and the understory of a marriage. After their marriage begins to fall apart, Vicki and Dennis embark on a mission to dig wells in Central America, assuaging a spiritual thirst by addressing a practical need.

"In "A Southern Thanksgiving," Covington reflects on the "family dance" that is Thanksgiving in the South: "In the North they put their crazy family members in institutions, but in the South we put them in the living room for everyone to enjoy." In "My Mother's Brain," the author recounts the onset of Alzheimer's in her mother and how, with the spread of the disease, an untapped vein of love is revealed."--BOOK JACKET.

Noted Southern novelist Vicki Covington's Night Ride Home marks the second book in our Literature and the Religious Spirit Series. The series seeks to introduce new readers--and reintroduce old -- to works that integrate literary greatness with a serious consideration of theological issues or religious themes. Each work features an introduction by a major writer or scholar, an interview with the author, and a bibliography, making each book perfectly suited for classroom use.

In her fourth novel Covington threads the turbulent racial unrest of Civil Rights-era Birmingham into the already complicated fabric of one white family's life.

Follow a diverse community of renters in Southside Birmingham through one transformative year.