A baby born in a dark dirty place wakes up: shivering, alone, abondon. It cries its first cries from a dirt hole in the pitch black. It does not know its mother''s love will come back for it. . . . even from the grave.

The 1950s have a reputation for being "happy days" but for eight boys mourning the death of their mother they are very dark days.

Mattie Thomas did not expect to die. She certainly did not expect her sister''s betrayal; and nobody expected Mattie to "stay" in the house.