The novel BYRON, by Robert M. Tucker, is the fascinating coming-of-age story of a young girl in the early sixties in the swamps of Louisiana. Byron, named after the poet, Lord Byron, loved the study of science and she collected swamp creatures such as snakes, frogs, insects and spiders, keeping them in her bedroom in cages, which kept her older sister Tina and her mother from entering. Byron, much to her mother's dismay, was a tomboy and didn't appreciate dresses, boys (except as friends) or being a lady. Byron also had difficulty accepting the racism of the deep South during the 1960s and as a result, she had friends of every persuasion and color. Her mother's derogatory comments about black people infuriated her, as did her mother's refusal to accept her own poor, Cajun beginnings in the swamps. Byron, on the other hand, loved the swamp and frequently traveled through the bayou in her pirogue with her dog, Pierre. She had many friends there including Toussaint, a Cajun man, and Manbo Josephine, a voodoo priestess. In addition, she had other black friends and that didn't sit well with some in the community. In fact, it brought out the violence of the Ku Klux Klan, which was aimed at her black friends.

Her beloved science teacher, Mr. Maher, by teaching evolution to his science class, caused other violence. As if that weren't enough, a fourteen-year-old friend of hers was pregnant, which was a true disgrace in those days. Byron's kindness to the young girl also caused a violent reaction in the neighborhood. What we have here is the intolerance of the old South chronicled through the eyes of a young girl, who in spite of her surroundings, had totally different thoughts about life than what was generally accepted.

BYRON was a fascinating book that took the reader inside the deep South from a white liberal's perspective without being condescending - something we don't get very often. The novel flowed smoothly and had enough suspense and tension to make it a real page-turner. Tucker's descriptions of the swamps and bayous made you feel as if you were there. It is a novel that is well worth reading.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers