Spite Fences

Coming of age during the '60s in the poor-white section of Kinship, Ga., Maggie Pugh sees the effects of poverty all around her: her neighbors have become violent; her father has grown quiet and somber; and her angry, desperate mother clings to the dream of having her younger, favored daughter, Gardenia, win the Hayes County Little Miss Pageant. The community is ruled by prejudice and spite, and Maggie has little hope for change until she makes the acquaintance of a black lawyer, George Hardy. Although her association with a ``colored'' man leads to all kinds of trouble for her family, Maggie is inspired by Mr. Hardy's quiet determination, and she finds the courage to join his battle for equal rights. This painfully realistic first novel evokes tensions in the South at the brink of the civil rights movement. Characters emerge as complex individuals, not pawns of a political agenda. Hearts will go out to Maggie as she weathers various forms of physical and emotional abuse; her final triumph is a tribute to all who have suffered for justice. Ages 12-up. (Nov.)