Hal Stewart

When Will The Circle Be Unbroken Hal Stewart

WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN is set in the racially accepted atmosphere of a small southern town in the 1930s through the 1980s, when being mixed race was taboo. Teddie, a light-skinned half-black woman, is raped by a white man and her Caucasian appearing baby, is secretly given to her best friend to be raised as a white child. Her friend is the wife of the rapist. The baby born of that rape, Bobbie Joe, and his nearly identical brother Mark, are inseparable as children. As adults, their relationship is splintered when Bobbie Joe turns into a bigot while Mark is a liberal. Neither brother knows the dark family secret covered up for decades. That long guarded secret is revealed only when Bobbie Joe is faced with a life-ending illness. The racist, though blond and blue-eyed, learns Teddie is his biological mother. The story culminates at Teddie's deathbed, when Bobbie Joe must accept the bitter truth and deal with his worse fear.