By Phyllis Rommens
Special to THE DAILY

“O, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Shakespeare wrote this line hundreds of years ago, but it is still a relevant observation. Once a lie is allowed to “escape,” it continues to grow until a veritable web of trouble is woven.

If Daniel Musgrove, the main figure in Mark Childress’ latest novel, could have foreseen the terrible web that one deception would inevitably weave, perhaps he would have had the courage of his convictions to confess his involvement in what was (at the time) only a small crime.

As it was, Daniel’s best friend, Tim Cousins, convinced Daniel that the crime could not be admitted and would not be discovered.

The fateful events in “One Mississippi” began on that most hopeful and stressful
of nights for high school students: the annual junior/senior prom. On this night, a beautiful black girl, Arnita Beecham, has been crowned queen of the prom.

This startling event serves as the backdrop for all the drama that follows. Later that night, Daniel, Tim and Arnita are involved in an accident that changes the lives of all three and those of everyone closely associated with them.

“One Mississippi” takes us back to the turbulent times of the early ’70s and the drama and social change that were America at the time. The South was changing in ways never dreamed before and its people were being swept along with the change.

Mark Childress was born in Monroeville, but he lived mostly in the Midwest. He states that his parents were “born and bred Southerners” and that he and his siblings “carried the South with us like an incurable virus.”

This novel follows Childress’ pattern of comedy in the midst of tragedy, and the unimaginable ending will leave the reader stunned.

I read “Crazy in Alabama,” one of Childress previous novels, and was delighted to be chosen to review this book. I will forever be a fan of this writer and urge all readers who are fans of Southern writers to find this book. I promise that after only a few pages, you will find yourself spellbound.

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