(Paperback)

Concluding his trilogy of memoirs begun in "October Sky, " the author returns to Coalwood, West Virginia, recalling the summer of 1961. With a year of college behind him, Homer "Sonny" Hickam returns home when his father, the superintendent of the coal mine, is accused of negligence in a man's death. Sonny takes his first real steps toward manhood by unraveling the story behind the man's death.