Murray has captivated readers with books such as Stomping the Blues [BKL F 15 77] and Train Whistle Guitar (1989), a novel about the childhood of a black boy called Scooter. In The Spyglass Tree, Scooter has grown into an irresistible young man with a gift for learning. It's the 1930s, and Scooter has left his Mobile home, off to college on scholarship. As he takes to university life, he often thinks back on his charmed past. Adored without conflict by both his adopted mother, Mama, and Miss Tee, his natural mother, Scooter's ready intelligence was nurtured carefully by his teachers. As Murray relates various episodes in Scooter's life, he builds a keen, energetic portrait of Southern black culture. His characters are magnetic and gorgeous creations. Their talk is wise, poetic, sassy, and funny; their look and body language cinematically vivid. And Scooter is a prince, conducting himself admirably in every circumstance, no matter how dicey. Murray handles words like notes, stringing together as many as he can to net every possible nuance of meaning. Brilliant--in every sense of the word. ~--Donna Seaman