Introduction

In 1963 rural Georgia, with the Vietnam War cranking up, pregnant seventeen-year-old Adie Jenkins discovers the diary of pregnant seventeen-year-old Tempe Jordan, a slave girl, begun as the Civil War was winding down. Adie is haunted by the memory of her dead sister; Tempe is overcome with grief over the sale of her three children sired by her master.
Adie—married to Buck, her baby's skirt-chasing father—is unprepared for marriage and motherhood. She spends her days with her new baby, Grace Annie. Buck spends his with the conniving daughter of the man he works for. Adie welcomes the friendship of midwife Willa Mae Satterfield. Having grown close to her after Grace Annie's birth, Adie confides that her baby sister, Annie, survived choking on a jelly bean only to drown in Cold Rock River a few months later. Willa Mae replies, "My two little chillins Georgia and Calvin drowns in that river, too." What she won't say is how and why.
Adie takes refuge in Tempe's journal. It tells an amazing tale, but the further she reads, the more questions the diary raises in her mind. After "the freedom" comes, Tempe sets out to find her lost children and meets Tom Barber, another freed slave. Tom and Tempe marry and have one daughter, Heart. When Tom is killed in a drunken brawl, Tempe takes Heart and settles on a small patch of land in North Georgia.
There, Heart blossoms, eventually marrying and giving birth to Georgia and Calvin. Adie is filled with questions: Could Willa Mae be Heart? How—and why—did the children die? And is it possible that the man who now owns the house in which she lives is Willa Mae's grandson?
As Cold Rock River rushes to its surprising, shocking ending, questions of family, race, love, loss, and longing are loosed from the mysterious secrets that have been kept for too long. And the depth of the connection between the two women united by place and separated by race—and a century—is revealed.

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Excerpt

ADIE JENKINS

Annie

I was five that spring Annie choked on a jelly bean. She was twenty months old—she wasn’t supposed to have any. Mama made that quite clear. Sadly, I wasn’t a child that minded well, so I gave Annie one anyway. I figured she ought to taste how good they were. I figured wrong.

Annie choked bad on that jelly bean and Mama wasn’t home—she’d gone to Calhoun to sell her prized jams; sold twelve jars of her double-lemon marmalade. Imagine that; there’s Mama, waving folks over to get a sample of her jam—selling her heart out—and all the while Annie’s choking to death.

My pa slapped Annie on her back. Pa had hands the size of skillets. It didn’t do any good; might have made it worse. Annie stopped making the sucking sounds she made when her face changed colors, and her body went limp, and her pretty blue eyes just rolled up and disappeared right inside her cute little head.

My older sisters, Rebecca and Clarissa—twin girls Mama had two years before she had me—got on their knees and prayed like a preacher. I didn’t get on my knees. I watched Pa beat on Annie instead. It was more interesting.

“She can’t die,” I said. “She’s in our family.”

“Oh hush, you ninny,” Rebecca said. “You don’t know nothing.”

“Call an ambulance, Rebecca!” Pa shouted.

Rebecca dialed zero for the operator on the big black phone and tried to explain where Route 3, Box 949 was.

“It’s in Cold Rock, but it’s not on a street, ma’am,” she said. “It’s on a route! Ain’t you ever heard of a route? Who hired you anyway?”

Pa heard it all and realized help was not coming anytime soon. His eyes were crazed as a horse that’s been spooked by a snake. It scared me plenty. I dropped to my knees.

“Pleasegodpleasegodpleasegodpleasegod. . .” I chanted sing-song.

Pa stuck his thumb backwards down Annie’s throat and choked her worse. But, what do you know? That jelly bean popped right up out of her mouth! Annie started coughing real hard and crying. Pa hugged her to his chest and patted her softly on the back—like she was a China doll and would break—which I thought was very strange, seeing as he nearly pounded her to death when she was choking.

We found out later what Pa did is the worst thing to do if someone’s choking. Pa didn’t know that. He did what he thought he had to, and it saved Annie’s life. When Mama got home she hugged every one of us and said, “Well, sometimes the worst thing turns out to be the best thing.”

Too bad it didn’t work out like that the next time Annie needed help. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

From the author:

1. Why did Adie let Buck lead her astray so easily when she had her dreams all laid out for her? Why did she allow him to continue his exploits with Imelda Jane during her pregnancy? Discuss the ways she first realizes she’s made a mistake marrying so young.

2. Adie’s older sisters Rebecca and Clarissa are fraternal twins. How are their personalities different? How are they similar?

3. Discuss the ways Annie’s death impacted each member of the family. Why did Adie keep what truly happened to Annie the day she drowned to herself all those years? Discuss the ways her life might have been different had she told. How did losing her sister at such an early age impact Adie?

4. Ruby dragged the girls from church to church. What was she in search of?

5. What role did Willa Mae play in helping Adie come to grips with the issues in her life? Why didn’t Adie find it strange that Willa Mae would go off on her own to Tybee Island and leave her mostly alone to fend for herself with Grace Annie? Discuss some of the reasons Willa Mae might have chosen to be absent in the picture.

6. Adie finds Murphy very appealing, and he’s nothing like Buck. Discuss the way this may have helped Adie see Buck in a different light.

7. How did Buck’s baby brother Andy’s death affect his maturation process? What impact did Austin’s beating have on Buck? Why didn’t Verna put Austin in an institution?

8. Buck’s father ran around on his mother for years but always came home. Why did he run off with Norma? Was she so different from all the others? Or was he running away from the situation at home?

9. What kept Tempe going in her fifteen-year search for her children? She not only survived the tragedies in her life, she triumphed over them. Why do you think she was able to enjoy her life, despite her sorrow? Discuss the ways it is important that all of us do the same.

10. What were Willa Mae’s fears if she exposed to Murphy the specifics of his birth? The early and middle ’60s were a turbulent and dangerous time for civil rights. How might Murphy’s life have changed had the town found out his true heritage? What about Adie and the children? How would their life have been impacted by it?

11. Fast forward ten years. Where do you see Adie and Murphy and the children? By then it would be the mid-’70s. What would the children be up to? Their likes, dislikes, talents, etc. Do you think Willa Mae would still be alive and well? Would Murphy and Adie have had children of their own? Would Willa Mae be able to claim them as her very own (grandchildren)? Would Clarissa have conquered her eating disorder? How about Rebecca? Would she be working on another husband?

12. Of all the characters, whose journey touches you the most and why? Which character (warts and all) was your favorite? Least favorite? Why?

Weblinks

»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Author JL Miles's web site
»	Author Bio

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