The story is set in rural Arkansas in 1952, in a small unpainted house (which signifies the lower social status of the family) surrounded by cotton fields. It is told through the eyes of a young boy, Luke, who lives on the farm with his parents and grandparents, who farm the cotton year in and year out. The story begins in September, when the cotton needs picking, and Luke and his grandfather, Pappy, go out in search of hill people to farm their fields with them. A family of 7, the Spruills, agree to work on the Chandler farm for the harvest. Then the Mexicans arrive in town, and 10 of them come to the Chandler farm to work too. It is the summer holidays for seven year old Luke, so the Chandlers, the Spruills, and the Mexicans head to the fields to begin picking.
One Saturday, on the weekly trip into town, Luke sees Hank (the oldest Spruill boy) violently fights 3 of the notorious Sisco clan, who everyone in the town fears, Hank turns on Luke to support his version of the fight. After one of the Siscos dies, a beating turns into a murder investigation.
With the burden of the murder lying on his shoulders, Luke returns to the fields. However, one night, he hears an altercation in the Spruill camp, after which Hank leaves the camp to avoid arrest for the Sisco murder. Out of curiosity, Luke follows him home, and in advertently becomes witness to another murder. Cowboy, one of the Mexicans who has had previous altercations with Hank, has followed Hank, and brutally kills him and throws his body in the river. On his way back to the house, Cowboy is waiting for Luke and threatens to kill his mother if he mentions Hank's murder to anyone. Yet another burden is added to Luke's shoulders.
Throughout the book, there are constant updates on Luke's uncle Ricky, who is currently fighting in the Korean War. When it emerges that he has fathered a child with Luke's neighbours (the Latchers, who are poverty-stricken sharecroppers and considered the lowest of the low), Luke and his family are brought together trying to keep another secret. And whilst all this is going on, Trot (the youngest Spruill who is unable to pick cotton due to disability) after hearing Hank make fun of Luke's unpainted house, has started painting the side of the Chandler house (which Luke eventually is forced to finish himself after Trot leaves the farm after it floods).
Surrounding these dramatic moments are snippets of ordinary life in the South, and the events which rural Arkansans regularly undertake, such as church and charity. Luke loves listening to his beloved Cardinals on the radio, and his earnings from picking cotton are being carefully saved up so he can afford a red Cardinals jacket.
However, when a flood ruins the crops, the Chandlers are forced, due to low ground, to stop picking, both the Mexicans and the Spruills leave and the Chandler farm returns to relative normality. Having always harvested a dream to leave the farm, Luke's mother persuades her father to go North to find work, and the story ends with the 3 of them on the coach leaving the farm for a better life.
I really enjoyed reading this book, partly because of the dramatic storyline, but also partly because it completely went against all my expectations of what the book would be like. The books begins with an innocent 7 year old boy with dreams of playing baseballs, and ends after having abruptly changed him from a young boy into a young man. The personal tone of the novel forces the reader to live the novel as it is being told, and makes me really empathise with the protagonist of the story, Luke. The story is full of dramatic twists, and although it is set in the most humble of situations, it is a truly exciting and captivating novel.
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