“Jeffery Powers… undertaking the hero’s journey – alienation, separation, initiation and return… told in prose clean as spring water.”  -Mary Hood, winner of The Flannery O’Connor Award.

“… brutal, deeply disturbing images- nonetheless, it is a story that needs to be told”  -Augusta Trobaugh, The Tea -Olive Bird Watching Society

A teenaged track star, son of a sociology professor, puts his father’s ideology to work in 1962 rural Georgia. But he learns that to save a beautiful black girl from a life of sexual abuse, he not only must put her life at risk, but also his own. Can Jeff Powers and Tamara Collins win the race against prejudice of their time?

“… a historic coming of age story… With an adventure tale of white-knuckle suspense that you’re not likely to forget, and with writing that sings and hums like the road beneath your tires when your traveling somewhere you want to go and loving the trip. … a reminder of how far we’ve come, how much we’ve had to get past, and how much forgiveness has been and still is required.” -Susan Howard

BUY: THE RACE BEFORE US