The Remembering: Book 3 of the Meq

Covering the history of the cold war on a small scale, singer-songwriter Cash concludes his trilogy (after 2005's The Meq and 2006's Time Dancers) of immortal near-humans who look 12 years old and possess unusual powers. In 1945, 76-year-old Meq Zianno "Z" Zezen dodges U.S. and Soviet covert agencies as he hunts for the legendary Sixth Stone, which will point the way to the place of gathering where the destiny of the Meq will be revealed. The grief of immortals as their adoptive "families" age and die gives an intimate sense of loss even as larger events (the Nagasaki atomic bombing, the Hungarian revolution, the Kennedy assassination) sweep past. Much more sketchily drawn—or omitted altogether—are the social convulsions of the period, like civil rights, sexual liberation, and the peace movement. Cash's Southern rock group, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, makes a cameo that will delight fans of his music. (Mar.)