A historic novel about a young woman forced to grow up quickly, and whose life--as well as those of her twin sons--changes with the current of the timesBeginning in the late 1950s, this novel tells the story of Marietta Cook, a tall girl growing up in Pine Gardens, a Gullah-speaking village in South Carolina. When Marietta's mother passes, she heads to Charleston in search of her uncle--only to find a lover and return pregnant with twins two years later. She raises her sons back home in the low country before moving the family to Charleston, where she takes a growing interest in football and the civil rights movement. The boys grow huge and talented at the game, playing pro football in California. A new world and new travails await, but Marietta's great resilience endures. This is the life of an extraordinary soul, and a novel with a beautifully vivid sense of place.