Summary

Part III begins with Ailey suspecting that Nana was passively aware of Gandee’s molestation. Ailey’s father, Geoffrey, suffers a heart attack but recovers. She goes to Chicasetta for the summer, where her maternal family lives. Ailey is greeted warmly by Uncle Root, which leads Ailey to think, “to find this kind of love, you have to enter deep country” (153). Ailey begins to see her childhood friends, Boukie and Baybay. Ailey begins to see Baybay (whose name is David) romantically, but they do not have sex. One day, David and Ailey are pulled over by Sheriff Franklin. Uncle Root later tells them that the Franklins are a family with a long line of racism and poverty and are often considered white trash.

The next Song depicts life on Wood Place, primarily through the lens of Aggie’s perspective. Aggie...