In the Jim Crow-era community of New Iberia, Louisiana, eighteen-year-old Willie Jones sits in his cell on the eve of his execution for the rape of a white woman. Across the state, a truck driven by a convict and his keeper carries the executioner's chair closer. Nearby, Willie's father lugs his gravestone on the back of a fading old mule. In his office, the DA who prosecuted Willie reckons with his sentencing, while at their gas station at the crossroads outside of town, husband and wife Or and Dale grapple with their grief and their secrets.--back cover.
