Three Strangers

Simple acts of kindness work their magic in three heart-warming stories set in central Florida before widespread air conditioning, Disney World, and integration. It is the story of three characters in the southern United States of 1957: a white girl, age 11, a young black man, age 19, and a white woman, age 42. Their interaction are prescribed and limited by strict rules of social conduct set down in Jim Crow laws. The fullness of their lives lies hidden, but brief interactions lower the walls and masks a little, and shift something inside each of them.

Book I: Spunky little Lora Lee faces problems at school and needs something, besides occasional comic relief at church and school, to make her life better. An unexpected visitor and trip to town bring that "something."

Book II: Just becoming a man, James is bound by the limits imposed by his color. His close-knit family provides a strong foundation, but when he has to deal with a racist company boss, his friendship with an older white woman could prove most helpful.

Book III: When her thoughtless husband takes off leaving her penniless, Hattie finally considers divorce. An offer from her brother requires a decision: if she decides to leave Horace, she'll have to wait a few days, and she's terrified of what he might do.