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Out of the Night That Covers Me
John McMillan was only eight years old when his mother died and he was ripped, without warning, from his sheltered world of books and gentility. Now on his aunt's run-down tenant farm in southern Alabama, abused by his alcoholic uncle, and completely bereft, John longs for escape--his only hope for survival.
He's about to get his wish in a way no one could ever predict....A twist of fate will bring John to the Bend, a black settlement that has become a refuge for outcasts, where he'll join Tuway, a black man who helps others leave the South and find a new life in Chicago. But neither will be ready for the brutal confrontation about to change their lives, challenge the prejudice of an era, inspire the courage of a people, and most of all, touchingly reveal the secrets of one boy's heart.
He's about to get his wish in a way no one could ever predict....A twist of fate will bring John to the Bend, a black settlement that has become a refuge for outcasts, where he'll join Tuway, a black man who helps others leave the South and find a new life in Chicago. But neither will be ready for the brutal confrontation about to change their lives, challenge the prejudice of an era, inspire the courage of a people, and most of all, touchingly reveal the secrets of one boy's heart.
436 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
November 8, 2023
BX Link: https://bookcrossing.com/journal/1682...
Genre: Historical Fiction
Where: Alabama
When: mid to late 1950s
THEME(S): Life in the 1950s in the segregated south. The good. The bad. And the very ugly.
THOUGHTS/REFLECTIONS: Another wow. This explores the ugly underbelly of the Alabama Black Belt in the 1950s…through the eyes of a benevolent banker going blind, a Black man who is a misfit in both the white community and his own, and a previously pampered but innocent white orphan. I’ve seen it compared to Mockingbird, and while that’s a bit of a stretch for me, I do see the parallels. What kept me coming back were the characters – both the heroes and the villains were people I wanted to understand, even when I didn’t like them.
QUOTES:
“‘You ain’t gonna let bein different cheat you for the rest of your life. That’s who you goin’ to Tuskegee.’ She let the tears run down her face. ‘There’s no worse feelin’ than somebody takin’ you for the fool.’”
“Sticking out of the ground, row after row, like tabs in some mammoth filing system, was the history of Lower Peach Tree.”
“That’s probably part of what coping is, knowing how you feel and dealing with it anyway.”
“The time comes when you got to move on. No matter how much you love or how much you hate, you got to move on. That’s what life is — movin’ on through all that mess.”
Genre: Historical Fiction
Where: Alabama
When: mid to late 1950s
THEME(S): Life in the 1950s in the segregated south. The good. The bad. And the very ugly.
THOUGHTS/REFLECTIONS: Another wow. This explores the ugly underbelly of the Alabama Black Belt in the 1950s…through the eyes of a benevolent banker going blind, a Black man who is a misfit in both the white community and his own, and a previously pampered but innocent white orphan. I’ve seen it compared to Mockingbird, and while that’s a bit of a stretch for me, I do see the parallels. What kept me coming back were the characters – both the heroes and the villains were people I wanted to understand, even when I didn’t like them.
QUOTES:
“‘You ain’t gonna let bein different cheat you for the rest of your life. That’s who you goin’ to Tuskegee.’ She let the tears run down her face. ‘There’s no worse feelin’ than somebody takin’ you for the fool.’”
“Sticking out of the ground, row after row, like tabs in some mammoth filing system, was the history of Lower Peach Tree.”
“That’s probably part of what coping is, knowing how you feel and dealing with it anyway.”
“The time comes when you got to move on. No matter how much you love or how much you hate, you got to move on. That’s what life is — movin’ on through all that mess.”
April 16, 2021
Not my usual fare, but very good read. A young man is torn from the life he knows when his mother dies, and his Aunt comes and takes him to live w/ her. This is in the 50's, and John learns a lot of life lessons, the hard way.
February 19, 2021
Pat Cunningham Devoto, wow! I loved this book full of love and heartache. It's 1950 Alabama a segregated world new to the 8 year old white orphan boy named John. John just one of the heroes of this story. A story with shades of Harper Lee. I have the advanced reading copy with a few mistakes misplaced pages but still it just broke my mind and my heart.
April 15, 2011
12-year old John McMillan III navigates smalltown Alabama after losing his parents. Indifferent or dangerous relatives are offset by a wise local “judge” and an array of other fascinating characters. In this book the wise have plenty of flaws too, as the Civil Rights movement gets underway. You’ll enjoy the complex ambience, and the way the characters talk to – and about - each other. I'm becoming a fan of Pat Cunningham Devoto. I'll have to read her other books now.
Some have compared this to To Kill a Mockingbird.
Some have compared this to To Kill a Mockingbird.
January 8, 2015
Out of the Night That Covers Me by Pat Cunningham Devoto
Very impressive book from a little-known author. Thoughtful young boy growing up in Deep South of the 50's. Captured the feel of small towns, race relations, and Southern culture of that time. Felt like I was back there. Fully developed characters and cultural nuances. It struck me as deeply and as poignantly as To Kill a Mockingbird. Also liked her prequel My Last Days As Roy Rogers.
Very impressive book from a little-known author. Thoughtful young boy growing up in Deep South of the 50's. Captured the feel of small towns, race relations, and Southern culture of that time. Felt like I was back there. Fully developed characters and cultural nuances. It struck me as deeply and as poignantly as To Kill a Mockingbird. Also liked her prequel My Last Days As Roy Rogers.
December 31, 2009
Loved this book! The travails of John and the adjustments he had to make to his expectations and reality resonated with me. I still remember my adjustment at the age of 13 when I got sent away from all I knew in Havana, to live at school in Philly...the day the world changed for me.
January 14, 2011
I read this back in the 90's it was a book my Grandmother had read cover to cover at least 20 times. I love historical time period fictions and this one was so perfectly writen that I felt swept away by the story.
July 17, 2025
This is a story of a young, privileged white boy, Jon McMillan, who was raised by a doting mother in the lap of comfort and luxury. When his mother passes away unexpectedly, he is sent to live with his mother's sister, Nelda, her husband, Luther and their two children on a dilapidated tenant farm in the 1950's.
He is mistreated and also befriended by the blind judge, Mr. Vance, in town along with his wife who take him under their wing and care for him part time, while offering him a job. Here he meets Tuway, a man that also works for the judge and has a skin condition that makes him appear half black and half white.
When John decides to follow Tuway to Chicago and escape to the city with him to start a new life, he ends up at the Bend, an outpost for blacks only, where he hides out and forms new friendships and bonds. He discovers a different kind of community there and also faces tragedy that changes many lives forever.
I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read Pat Cunningham Devoto's previous book, also set in the 1950's, titled My Last Days as Roy Rogers.
He is mistreated and also befriended by the blind judge, Mr. Vance, in town along with his wife who take him under their wing and care for him part time, while offering him a job. Here he meets Tuway, a man that also works for the judge and has a skin condition that makes him appear half black and half white.
When John decides to follow Tuway to Chicago and escape to the city with him to start a new life, he ends up at the Bend, an outpost for blacks only, where he hides out and forms new friendships and bonds. He discovers a different kind of community there and also faces tragedy that changes many lives forever.
I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read Pat Cunningham Devoto's previous book, also set in the 1950's, titled My Last Days as Roy Rogers.
October 9, 2019
A new author for me. Historical fiction set in the 50's. Devote tells a great story. I very much enjoyed this book. There were a couple of parts I found to be confusing but on a skim back I was able to see what I missed the first time thru. Moral of that story, don't read while traveling and hopping between planes and trains. I highly recommend.
I did see that this is really book two in what appears is going to be a trilogy....book one is My Last Days as Roy Rogers. I'd really like to read that but it appears my public library does not have it on their shelves.
I did see that this is really book two in what appears is going to be a trilogy....book one is My Last Days as Roy Rogers. I'd really like to read that but it appears my public library does not have it on their shelves.
February 28, 2023
This is a deep south read. We have a 8 yr old whose parents have died and his only relative is an aunt, married to a not nice man, in Lower Peach Tree. The 8 yr old is smarter than any one but is made to work in the fields and is beaten. He befriends a black man and follows him to where he thinks is his freedom! A wonderful woven story. Very different
October 17, 2019
This book had me in the first few pages. What a wonderfully written story about a boy's coming of age in the south in the 1950's and the situation that puts him there. I could not put this book down and finished it in 2 days. Defiantly a good read!
September 9, 2020
This book was started and set to the side for a bit. Had I just turned a few more pages it wouldn’t have been set down. The author was described as “the literary love child of Harper Lee & Mark Twain”. No description could be more fitting. I loved this book. It went exactly how he had to go.
September 19, 2017
Wow! The best book I've read in a long time.
December 29, 2018
Read this book at the request of my granddaughter and i loved it!
December 20, 2020
One of my all time favorites.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 26, 2020
A really good book. Similar to me of a Boy's Life. Which I read and liked very much. A learning journey.
June 21, 2021
Excellent book. Attention to detail is outstanding. The characters were well developed. The rhythm was good. I really enjoyed this book. Would recommend it.
September 8, 2021
Novel centering on an orphaned boy who is sent to live a hardscrabble life with relatives in Alabama. The characters felt real, and I enjoyed how the story unfolded.
May 19, 2022
Out of Night That Covers Me is a brilliant novel. It has flavors of Haper Lee and Mark Tain. The is a tour de force. Pat Conningham Devoto is a fine and talented writer. Brava!
June 22, 2022
This poignant story tells a tale of what it means to overcome adversity in the face of tragedy. I read it every summer.
June 24, 2023
Excellant Book. Couldn"t put it down once I started reading it
March 7, 2018
After thinking about this book, I have posted my review. It includes my thoughts and favorite quotes. Hope you enjoy!
https://raderofthebooks.wordpress.com...
https://raderofthebooks.wordpress.com...
February 23, 2016
This is a really powerful book! A companion book to My Last Days as Roy Rogers, Devoto takes a minor character from that story, Tab's next door neighbor, John, and tells us what happens to him after his mother died and he's taken away by his aunt.
John is taken to his uncle's tenant farm in the heart of the Alabama Black Belt. He's thrust into a life totally different than that he's known - working long hours in the sun, hoeing cotton, and being beaten by his violent tempered, alcoholic uncle. His survival is ensured by a couple that he and his aunt meet on the train south - the town's bank manager and his wife. They watch out for John and he begins to dream of being adopted by them until he overhears a conversation making him think that the "Judge" doesn't care anything about him after all.
He follows a black man who works for the judge, a man who helps black share croppers get away by train to what they hope to be a better life in Chicago. At the Bend he meets Mama Tuway, a healer; Ella, a beautiful black woman who's been mentally damaged by the ravages of abuse at the hands of a white man, and her son Willie.
The climax of a confrontation between blacks and whites foreshadows "the historic struggle about to sweep across the country."
Several reviewers compared it to To Kill a Mockingbird. It's absolutely excellent.
John is taken to his uncle's tenant farm in the heart of the Alabama Black Belt. He's thrust into a life totally different than that he's known - working long hours in the sun, hoeing cotton, and being beaten by his violent tempered, alcoholic uncle. His survival is ensured by a couple that he and his aunt meet on the train south - the town's bank manager and his wife. They watch out for John and he begins to dream of being adopted by them until he overhears a conversation making him think that the "Judge" doesn't care anything about him after all.
He follows a black man who works for the judge, a man who helps black share croppers get away by train to what they hope to be a better life in Chicago. At the Bend he meets Mama Tuway, a healer; Ella, a beautiful black woman who's been mentally damaged by the ravages of abuse at the hands of a white man, and her son Willie.
The climax of a confrontation between blacks and whites foreshadows "the historic struggle about to sweep across the country."
Several reviewers compared it to To Kill a Mockingbird. It's absolutely excellent.
March 29, 2016
One of my biggest measures on book likability is how much I don't want to put it down. This book, by that measure, rates highly. It's basically a look at the Jim Crow South of the 50s through the lens of the 8 year old main character. A range of emotions derive from reading this book - not really including humor - and some are rough and frustrating but not unknown to the time and place. This was a good read. I gave it 4 stars.
February 1, 2024
I read this book in my early 20s, and was a little nervous to reread it because I had fond memories and I was worried it wouldn't have aged well. I was relieved to find that I liked it just as much. It's an easy story and reads quickly. Unlike when I read it the first time, I am a parent and some of the themes and ideas about what it means to raise up a person of substance and character resonated more strongly. I really like this one.
January 7, 2011
I thought this book was so boring when I first start reading it but when I got more in dept with it it start to make more sense and you get how the main character John grows from a boy to a young man. It's a very good read so I advise you to read this book it takes time to get the setting from the Bend and the town John lives in and how they relate but they do so read the book.
April 22, 2007
Really great story. I dont have anything else to say about it. I literally didnt put it down. Not once. Well, only for some cheez-its. am currently re-reading.
January 24, 2008
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ...
August 22, 2008
I didn't think this was a particularly memorable book, but easy to read and OK if you've got nothing else to read. About a boy living in the south around the time of the civil rights movement
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews