In the tradition of The Glass Castle, Educated, and Heartland, Neal Wootentraces five decades of his dirt-poor, Alabama mountain family as the years and secrets coalesce.
Take a journey to the Deep South and learn what it\'s like to be born on the wrong side of the tracks, the wrong side of the law, and the wrong side of a violent Mental illness..
Told from two perspectives, this Story alternates between Neal\'s life and his grandfather\'s, culminating in a shocking revelation.
And Neal\'s father, having inherited the very same traits of his father, made sure the frigid mountain winters weren\'t the most brutal thing his family faced.
Being followed by a black car With men in black suits was as normal to Neal as using an outhouse, carrying drinking water from a stream, and doing homework by the light of a kerosene lamp.
He discovers how this volatile disposition led to a murder, a conviction, and ultimately to a daring prison escape and a closely guarded family secret.
Growing up, Neal was weaned on folklore legends of his grandfather--his quick wit, quick feet, and quick temper.
Everyone could see it.
Teachers could see it.
Cops could see it.
They were poor white trash.
Neal\'s family could hide where they were, but not what they were.
Even the school bus and mail carrier wouldn\'t go there.
The Wooten\'s lived a secret existence in a shack in the woods With no running water, no insulation, and almost no electricity.
Tent revivals, snake handlers, and sacred harp music were the norm, and everyone was welcome as long as you weren\'t Black, brown, gay, atheist, Muslim, a damn Yankee, or a Tennessee Vol fan.
If you wanted alcohol, you had to drive to Georgia or ask the bootlegger sitting next to you in church.
Prohibition was still embraced.
Neal Wooten grew up in a tiny community atop Sand Mountain, Alabama, where everyone was white and everyone was poor.
In the tradition of The Glass Castle, Educated, and Heartland, Neal Wootentraces five decades of his dirt-poor, Alabama mountain family as the years and secrets coalesce
