The tale centers on Madeline Knight's decision to abandon her disappointing [infant]son to the care of Munday, the nurturing "Big House" slave. Munday becomes Charles' surrogate mother, and her daughter, Helen, is Charles' only childhood companion. The author skillfully weaves in historical details about slavery, plantation life, national and regional politics as well as a little romance and intrigue. The Southern drawl and slaves' Gullah dialect add authenticity, as does the presence of witchcraft and other cultural details about slaves and their privileged owners. Some strategic twists and turns hold the reader's interest, and the characters--with the exception of the status-seeking, power-hungry Madeline--earn the reader's empathy. Charles, Munday and Helen leave South Carolina for Boston, via war-torn Washington, D.C., where Charles confronts his long-lost mother. This bold step releases him to pursue freedom with his true family. The trio rejoice at their arrival in Boston, but racial segregation and second-class status dim their hope for freedom. Despite his happy marriage to Helen, Charles remains enslaved by dreams of returning to Coffin Point. Their experience brings readers to a new understanding of freedom nudging us to examine our own forms of slavery--to possessions, power and status. (Kirkus Review, 2012). This exciting tale ends generations later when the only surviving heir of Coffin Point, a boy also named Charles, loses his biological parents and is adopted by yet another power-hungry woman who gets Charles' adoption record released and begins her journey to blackmail, lie and cheat to become sole owner of the old plantation house and land. There is excellent intricate weaving of deja vu and familial history repeating itself. A very pleasurable, satisfying read.

"Is God listening? "Can he be trusted?" In this book, Yancey tackles the questions caused by a God who doesn't always do what we think he's supposed to do.

When things don't go our way, the Disappointment Dragon can come to visit and take us down to his home in the Valley of Despair... The Disappointment Dragon sometimes comes to see us all and, if we let him, he can make us feel sad or angry. He visits Bobby when he is not picked for the school football team, he also finds Lucinda when she has to miss an exciting school trip because she has the Chicken Pox. He even tries to take the whole of Class Three down to the Valley of Despair when their favourite teacher moves away. Will the Dragon of Hope be able to chase away the Disappointment Dragon and help them see things more positively? The fun characters in this charming, fully illustrated storybook will help children to cope with, and discuss openly, their feelings of disappointment. There are many creative suggestions on how to banish the Disappointment Dragon and an introduction for adults explaining disappointment in children and how they can help.

In a volume he describes as "a series of covert and not-so-covert autobiographical pieces," Jonathan Lethem explores the nature of cultural obsession—from western films and comic books, to the music of Pink Floyd and the New York City subway. Along the way, he shows how each of these "voyages out from himself" has led him to the source of his beginnings as a writer. The Disappointment Artist is a series of windows onto the collisions of art, landscape, and personal history that formed Lethem’s richly imaginative, searingly honest perspective on life. A touching, deeply perceptive portrait of a writer in the making.