Summary

The novel begins with a Song set in the eighteenth century, which introduces Micco. Micco’s father, Dylan, is Scottish and his mother is a Creek native American. Dylan is an abusive husband; he embodies immigrating Europeans who “had been oppressed in their own land by their own king, forg[otten] the misery that they had left behind…and passed it on to the Africans” (5). Dylan and Micco’s Creek uncle get into a fight and Micco kills his father to save his uncle. Micco’s mother warns him that “no matter who his father had been or how friendly white men might seem, they would never truly love or respect the Creek people” (19). This Song is primarily set in “The-Place-in-the-Middle-of-the-Tall-Trees,” which is eventually renamed, Chicasetta, Georgia, where much of Ailey’s plot is set.

Part I is narrated mostly...