Home By Dark

About the Book

In the rural community of Tula, Mississippi, Benny and Jubilee Horne struggle to free themselves from the expectations inherent in the white paternalism of the 1940’s. A black sharecropper is expected to be ignorant, lazy, and unfaithful to his wife. Benny, however, is determined to be a good husband and father, but can he resist the persistent, flirtatious Nan Hawkins? The story is complicated more by Deedove, an old conjure woman, who invokes the powers of her ancestors to carry out her secret plans for their unborn child. Can the tragedy that Jubilee foresees for them all be averted?

About the Author

Tish Knapp was born in 1939 and grew up near Pickens, Mississippi on a cotton farm. She was blessed with two mothers, her excellent white one and her much loved black one, both of which influenced her writing life. She got her degree from Belhaven College in Jackson and has been a recipient of scholarships from the Bread Loaf School of English and National Endowment of the Humanities. She now lives with her husband on an island off the coast of Washington State and teaches high school literature and creative writing classes. She has seven children and many animals including two wallabies.