Son of a Preacherman
Posted by admin in Marlene's Books on Feb 16, 2012
Billy Ray Matthias, son of the new preacher and Benny Freeman, daughter of an oil rich rancher find each other at a time both want to escape the shadows of their past. Billy Ray’s heart is open for love but Benny’s is fearfully shut.
In 1920 Tulsa Oklahoma is a strictly segregated oil rich boomtown. The black region called Greenwood District is an independent enclave of prosperity so much so it’s dubbed the Negro Wall Street. Racial tensions come to a head from a singular incident igniting a murderous and destructive rampage against Negroes in Greenwood.
Will Billy Ray’s strong faith and determination survive the daunting trials and deadly riot? Can Benny get beyond her bitterness and regain what she abandoned because of heartbreaking disappointment? A community is decimated and lives are dramatically and forever changed in this saga of love, racial conflict and a soaring faith in God.
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Published by LEVB/Moody Publishers
Racial and romantic tensions come together in this historical romance based in Tulsa, Okla., in the 1920s from Banks (Ruth’s Redemption). The handsome and valiant Billy Ray Matthias moves to Tulsa with his brother, Napoleon, and quickly becomes enamored of Benjamina “Benny” Freeman, a teacher with a complicated past. The weighty history of the town, the relationships between African-Americans and Cherokees, the Trail of Tears and Prohibition—among other things—are blended skillfully with some of the more tawdry inclinations of some of Banks’s characters. The narrative drags when the town’s resentful white residents are introduced and they plot to incriminate successful black business owners like Billy Ray and the Freemans, but the spirited characters, their steadfast faith, and their will to survive even a deadly race riot carries the story to a satisfying end. (June)