Murielle McCarthy

Born and raised in North Carolina Murielle McCarthy

This novel is freely adapted from the lives of pupils, their families, friends and acquaintances, met during the two year period when I taught French in two elementary schools in North Carolina, from 1995 to 1997. It traces the paths of three children, whose lives somehow run into one another in school and in their respective neighborhoods, with boundaries loaded with historical events and ghosts. The first part opens on August 6, 1990 with Tom's birth, in a white and wealthy family, in a gated community. Next, the reader meets Marcus, from the black neighborhood, on the other side of the rail tracks that separate the town into two territories. And finally, Stacy who lives in a trailer park in the heart of the forest, near the swamps. A few scenes, taken from their daily lives, set a social background, marked by distinct geographical and cultural frontiers - on a ten year period. At the time, those communities from the north east part of North Carolina were strongly marked by their past, less than thirty years after the legal end of segregation. Stacy's diary provides the second part of the novel - from August 16, 2000 to September 28, 2001 - and gives us, over the writing process, some key events and dates in American history, as well as some anecdotes and facts brought back from elementary and junior school. School, at the junction of Tom, Marcus and Stacy's lives, seems to be one of the only possible meeting places for these communities. The last part focuses on Saturday September 29, 2001 and follows the three children in their preparation for a baseball game which will gather all the protagonists until the final denouement.