First of all, the time in which this book took place was of interest to me. in the 60s, in a small southern town. The way things were back them, so simple, yet so not was one thing that kept this book going. You can tell the author did a lot of research and her facts were pretty spot-on. This book deals with a lot of heavy issues dealing with the feeble minded, welfare recipients, poverty... it was kind of slow moving in the beginning, but enough to keep my interest. I don't want to say too much more because I don't want to give anything away. But it was a great book! the story that occured within these heavy issues is an amazing one. Some of it you can see coming, but a lot of it is a shocker and a surprise.