TOLLIVER

The author of Borrowed Brother (1958, p. 609, J-195) and others has reached with this unique, sensitively--but unsentimentally-- written story about two Negro college students in the South. Sojourner Truth had arrived at the college from southern Virginia, unprepared for the rugged courses because of poor schooling. Tolly, unusual girl of a far different background, became devoted to Sojourner almost as soon as she met him, and spent all her spare time helping him with his studies, hoping to marry him someday. On graduation day, Tolly is struck by a hard blow when informs her he was caught cheating and will not graduate. After a brief tearless good-bye, Tolly leaves him. The greater portion of the book concerns Tolly-- her efforts to forget Sojourner, her success as a teacher, her involvement in a freedom ride, etc. The end brings a long awaited reunion, which fortunately does not turn the book into a fluffy romance, far from it; it is powerful from first to last page, reenforced by natural dialogue and solid character development.