Dancing on Horses

About the Book

It is 1947 in Belhaven, North Carolina, a small cotton textile mill town on the outer shoulders of Charlotte. While growing up within a strict Baptist working-class family and a segregated South, twelve-year-old Tobe Stanhope never sees a single colored student in school. But little does he know that the old South is on the verge of a civil rights movement that will change everything. Tobe’s journey from childhood into adulthood is a perilous one as he struggles with fundamental questions about his religion and male-female relationships. As he wrestles with his identity, independence, intellectual growth, social conscience, a spiritual crisis, and the search for truth and meaning, Toby encounters the greatest shock of his young life. Now he must draw upon his years of overcoming a variety of struggles as he clings to his beliefs about love and attempts to understand who is really in charge of his life and his future. In this poignant tale, a young man embarks on a journey of self-discovery as he grows into adulthood, faces challenges, falls in love, and searches for his true potential amid an ever-changing South.

About the Author

Tony J. Stafford holds a BA from Wake Forest University and a PhD from Louisiana State University. He is a professor of English at the University of Texas at El Paso and has written and published numerous scholarly papers, articles, and books in his area of expertise as well as several plays that have been produced in theatres across the country. Dancing on Horses is his second novel.