Reunion begins and ends with the 45th reunion of the 1960 class of Princeton, West Virginia. Set in a small town on the southern edge of the state, it deals with usual themes of coming-of-age and high school, as well as the once-in-a-lifetime experience of desegregation and its impact on a group of friends. In addition, the debut novel, written in the first person in an engaging style, probes the relationship, or lack of it, between an emotionally-distant father and his son, who much later in life begins to understand what it means to grow up as the adult child of an alcoholic. The characters are rich and varied, with the very essence of Americana: high school, football, and social interactions on multiple levels; the music of the 50s; the thrill of short-wave ham radio; a unique peer group, including an emerging high school rock band; and of course the family of origin, a complex mix of stately Virginians and more informal Kentuckians.
