Spencer's Mountain

High up on a mountain, young Clay-Boy Spencer joins his father and eight uncles to hunt the mythical white deer. What he finds on the mountainside changes his life, and marks him for a special destiny. Years later, Clay-Boy is the first in his family to get the chance to go to college; but success as an adult is much more complicated and bittersweet than the legendary success of Clay-Boy's childhood quest. A heartwarming novel of love, family, and hope, Spencer's Mountain inspired the popular television show The Waltons, which starred Richard Thomas, Ralph Waite, and Michael Learned, and ran for nine years between 1972 and 1981. More than fifty years after its publication, this novel still has the power to inspire and move readers all over the world. "Unforgettable...pure joy."

When Clay-Boy's father fails to return home on Christmas Eve, Clay-Boy takes to the snowy Virginia hills in search of him, leaving his worried family to keep watch at the homestead. Along the way, he meets an irate deer, a threatening county sheriff, a congregation of African-American churchgoers, and two elderly women who happen to be bootleggers. The story of Clay-Boy's search for his father is told with warmth and intensity. Along with its prequel, Spencer's Mountain, The Homecoming was the inspiration for the popular television show The Waltons, which starred Richard Thomas, Ralph Waite, and Michael Learned, and ran for nine years between 1972 and 1981. Over fifty years after its publication, this novel still has the power to move and inspire. "A sweet, humorous take on family life."