Stephen D Graham

The Lazarus Tree Stephen D Graham

Small town Alabama, 1905. Hard to imagine animosity and hatred for a lost cause still exist forty years after the Civil War's end.

A July 4th celebration "accidentally" burns the colored section of Oakman to the ground in one night. In the ashes and total devastation, that lay waste to property and lives lost, is a treacherous secret. A story of hatred, deprivation and defiance lost in the ashes and lost to time.

Not til amateur sleuth Robert Wallace sets out on a mission, to find the owner of the one relic not consumed by the fire and destruction of Pennsylvania Freedom, do we know how hard men's hearts can be. The quest sends Robert and his wife Mary back in time to a place in history they had only heard about. Stories of men, the South, cities and towns with no soul, no heart, that wanted nothing more than to extinguish the last reminders of the battles lost. At the center of these men is a town sheriff with a heart of stone and a non-existent soul. The destruction he causes at the very core of his own family overshadows even the most depraved secrets this small Southern town can hide.

The Lazarus Tree lies at the end of the devastation. The massive branches of the old oak tree have reached out to protect and hide those buried beneath its roots for over eighty years. There, in the confines of this small cemetery, Robert Wallace meets Annie May Watkins. A 108-year-old confidant that can tell him everything he needs to know to give his story an ending.

The narrative that leads Robert Wallace to this forgotten cemetery on the banks of the Tennessee River is an account of a terrible time in history many if not most would rather bury among these graves forever. Yet Annie, Robert and The Lazarus Tree provide a glimmer of hope that society and people can change the sins of their fathers and alter their future for the better.