Once in a great while, a book captures the essence of a particular place and time. George Ann Byrd Danehower has done this with her first book of non-fiction short stories, set in the 1930s-1950s and centered in Mississippi County, Arkansas, at the northeastern corner of the state along the western bank of the Mississippi River. Her book is alive with detailed memories of "Daddy," "Mother," "Ruth," "Papa and Mama Edwards," and her siblings and countless relatives, friends, teachers, and customers, as well as characters like the Medicine Man, the Witch, the TB Lady, Tight the hired hand, and Caleb the thief and murderer. She tells of growing up in her family's "house-store" in Mandalay, Arkansas, which was surrounded by "fields of white gold" (cotton), and then later in the small Arkansas town of Blytheville. As George Ann (her given name) points out in her Introduction: "We Southerners do love our tradition of storytelling; often our stories cause us to laugh to keep us from crying." Each story captures a vivid memory of growing up in Arkansas, with its fierce natural beauty, strong family traditions, and complex social challenges.