The Yesteryear Tales

David Lee Kirkland
High Hill Press (2008)
ISBN 9781606530009
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (1/09)


From the very moment you pick up this book, the author has captured your attention and heart with his voice and vivid description of characters and towns. His towns are imaginary towns that any of us could be from and his narrative voice makes one feel like they are listening in on conversations.

The characters involve themselves in love and hate relationships and solve problems with simplicity of times long past.

In “War Brides,” the author describes a veteran coming home from the war with an Italian wife and a black man marrying a white woman. The townspeople were very close and even though they were surprised their men didn’t marry one of the locals, they nevertheless welcomed the new couple. However, when the black man and his wife appeared everyone was stunned and respectfully stood away. It took one man to invite the couple to his church and demand that all support them. In those days, the blacks had one church and the whites another. It was so quiet in the church you could hear a pin drop, but with a little persuading the town supported the couple, after all his was one of their own.

Through these rich short stories the author has provided humor and wisdom. If you want to read something that will make you relax, forgetting the troubles of the day, “The Yesteryear Tales” by David Lee Kirkland is the book for you.

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