Biloxi

In Parrish’s historical novel, a 1960s family tries to adapt to a new neighborhood beset by racial tensions.

Life suddenly changes for Charlie Cooper and his family when the tractor Charlie drives rolls over on top of him. After a leg amputation, he can no longer do farm work or occupy the foreman’s house. With his wife, April, and son, Chase, Charlie relocates from West Tennessee to Biloxi, Mississippi, to begin a different life. Each family member experiences their own challenges in the new setting. Accustomed to working outdoors alongside Black men, Charlie must adjust to sedentary desk work and some racist coworkers. April and Chase both notice tensions between white and Black people, but handle the unease in different ways. Hoping to avoid conflict, April keeps a distance from her Black neighbors, the Moores, though their children are in Chase’s school. (April fundamentally believes “there’s a proper place for everything” as well as “for everybody.”) Sixth grader Chase, initially unsure of his beliefs, develops loyalty towards his friendly neighbor and classmate Liam Moore and his bright sister, Willa. As the Cooper family learns that inequality in Biloxi is systemic, witnessing both overt and subtle instances of racism, Charlie, April, and Chase must make decisions about how to handle the insidious behavior they see. Parrish convincingly shows how two states sharing a border can seem worlds away; Tennessee mornings were cool, but Biloxi’s heat is “thick, muggy, and relentless.” Chase’s school, unlike his old one, simmers—in Biloxi, whites and Blacks sit separately in the classroom and lunchroom, and at gym Chase overhears a white boy say, “Can’t believe they even let them play with us.” The characters are portrayed empathetically, including the Moores. Still carving out a place in a system stacked against them, the mother, Margaret, exhibits generosity as Liam and Willa excel academically. April, initially prim and insular, convincingly undergoes a slow transformation. Some confusion surrounds the main family’s last name: Starting as Cooper, it becomes Carter and ends as Walker. But the overall message is clear—the “invisible line” drawn between races is worth questioning.

Sympathetic characters and realistic situations help keep this book about the past relevant today.