The Travelers

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James Vincent is born in 1942 to a working-class white couple whose marriage was already on the rocks. James struggles to move beyond a difficult childhood and escapes the violence at home to attend law school in Michigan, where he begins, ultimately, to envision his future as prosperous and bright. Meanwhile, on a rural road in Georgia, Agnes Green, a black woman on her first date with a handsome suitor, is pulled over by the police, and the terrible moments that follow make her question whether she will have a future at all. As the years unspool ahead of them, unexpected turns of fate will connect these two lives and their families: two Americans who each come up against the forces of race, class, and gender that change--and end--ordinary lives. Bearing witness to the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the first term of Obama's presidency, THE TRAVELERS is both an intimate family portrait and a searing examination of the hauntings and traumas still reverberating in America today. With its assured prose, memorable dialogue, and remarkable sense of place, THE TRAVELERS introduces Regina Porter as a rising literary star.