West of Rehoboth

Summary

Set in the early 1960s, West of Rehoboth is the moving story of twelve-year-old Edward Massey. Each summer, to escape the heat of Philadelphia, Edward’s family travels to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. A pristine resort untouched by racial integration, Rehoboth Beach offers work for his mother and a sandy playground for his sister. As for Edward—an imaginative boy smitten with Agatha Christie’s master sleuth Hercule Poirot—it offers the the chance to understand his curmudgeonly uncle Rufus, a man caught in a swirl of hard luck and bad choices.

Forging a tenuous bond, their relationship will take Edward on a harrowing journey through Rufus’s past, an amalgam of violence, disappointment, and frustration. As he tries to make sense of the sadness and despair of his uncle's life, Edward must struggle to avoid losing himself to the same destiny.

In this mesmerizing and elegant story, Pate tells the tale of a family on the brink of turmoil—and of the compassionate and healing power of one unforgettable boy.