Calvin Skaggs

A story of violence and desire, of tenderness and compassion, so gripping and moving, which lays bare the trials and sufferings, the yearings and aspirations of three generations of an African American family. The journey of a family from the rural South to "big city" Herlem, seeking both salvation and understanding and of a young boy struggling to earn the approval of a self-righteous and often unloving stepfather

Story set in 18th century Padua about a student who becomes romantically involved with the daughter of the man whose poisonous garden his room overlooks.