County: Memory Is My Name

County: Memory Is My Name

It's April 1957. Memory will graduate from high school at the end of May. At this bend in the road, she's between her lost-farm childhood, her life here in Darlington, and a future of journeys. She finds herself going back over the past 7 years, since 1950. True to her name, she remembers everything: -- teenage stuff: boys, the school newspaper, a wreck, beaches, peanut boilings - creation of the first international stock car raceway by a local genius - love, death and loss, family and belief - music and music and more music - Hurricane Hazel smashing the Carolina coast - the Shutdown that could spin her town into permanent decline. What continually darts around the edge of these pages is the murder she can neither leave behind nor begin to comprehend. Before COUNTY, M B Spears wrote MINERAL SPRINGS ROAD 1940s. In it, she hugs her quirky farm community to her -- dangers, warmth, wildness, hilarity and all. But just before she turns 10, the farm is lost. COUNTY is set in Darlington, the new center of her life. She's not a child any more; she's 17. Graduation looms. It will cut in half the lives of St John's High School's tight-knit Class of '57. At the end of those same 7 years, Darlington has changed drastically. First a wild ride, then a vicious violation of justice (soon -- but not yet -- to be confronted), a killer hurricane, and now a sucker-punch, bringing the town to crisis point. Can it recover? Ahead -- for those who choose to take it -- will be the Leaving Road. But first, for Memory, a long detour.