A review by bergsteiger
The Well by Mildred D. Taylor

4.0

Great prequel to "Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry". As with her other, more famous book, Mrs. Taylor does an excellent job of evoking strong emotions, without over simplifying characters or playing into stereotypes. Using this as a companion book to Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, and the Great Northern Migration, as it helps illustrate the time period and motivations of different races and social groups. The story itself is about the Logans, a black family in Mississippi in the 1910s, who own the only well that doesn't dry up in the vicinity. As a resentful, poor white family comes to draw water, the outcome is entirely predictable. The Logans manage to avoid total catastrophe and we see why Hammer will appear in later books no longer in the South. This is really a novella and a quick read, so you have no reason to not pick it up off the shelf. However, its short length is also its greatest handicap as there is not nearly the development of characters and plot that we see in Mrs. Taylor's other works. Still a solid 4 stars though.