Brave in Season

A Novel of Race, Railroads, and Baseball

By: Jon Volkmer

Narrated by: Sean Cordry

Set in 1950 in the rural Midwest, and inspired by real events, this gripping novel explores what happens when an African American railroad repair crew is dropped into a tiny, tight-knit farm community. Will frictions build to an all-too familiar American tragedy, or can tensions be overcome in that uniquely American way, with balls and bats and a field of green?

Seventeen-year-old Carlin Littman has big dreams, much bigger than will fit into sleepy Julian, Nebraska, population 172. She has set her sights on college, Chicago, and beyond. The arrival of the rail workers, known as gandy dancers, is an interesting distraction in the bored summer days where her only job is looking after her little brother, Timmy. When she befriends Sam Washington, the awkward, bookish gandy a year younger than she, neither of them have any idea what they have set in motion.

Many decades later, Tim returns to Nebraska, attempting to recover the lost history through interviews with the few surviving seniors who might remember. These encounters provide the basis for a story that lies somewhere between myth and memory. A story where the mutual respect between the oldest gandy, Jerome, and the store owner, Dave, offers townsfolk an alternative to stereotype and prejudice. A story where the new rail line is being built over the route of the underground railroad, challenging a new generation of farm families to live up to that heritage. A story where an unlikely pick-up game propels players on both sides to epic performances.

Race, railroads, and baseball are iconic themes that come together in this moving story of the American heartland.

©2023 Milford House Press (P)2024 Beacon Audiobooks

Honest, Sweet, and Clever

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the audiobook, Brave in Season. It is one of those fictional stories that just keeps getting better and better as it goes along.

The performance by the narrator has a Little House on the Prairie feel that is consistent with the town folks' mid twentieth century values depicted by the author. That context lends a gentle tone to a slow burn wherein the author cleverly and honestly weaves both the complexities and the horrors of race into the fabric of the culture of this small town in Nebraska.

The author seamlessly introduces the town folks to an all black railroad maintenance crew of gandy dancers who are in town to work on a short term project on the tracks. From the small town niceties some town folks visit upon the gandy dancers to vile racism visited upon them by others, we get to know all the characters really well. The characters mutual appreciation for baseball is highlighted throughout the book and it culminates in a game between the two groups that is both serious and funny.