The Kiss: How an Innocent Gesture Exposed the Racist Underbelly of a Small Town

The Kiss is the story of two families, one black and one white, trying to navigate their way through the rapid changes and violence rampant in our nation during the Civil Rights Movement. Neither family was the least bit cognizant of the evil that would bring them together. An innocent peck on the cheek, after a victorious football game provoked a trail of brutality, death, destruction and ultimately, against all odds, a forbidden love. Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement, we follow Eddie Thorpe and Winston Roberts as their lives collide many times; each struggling in his own way against the changes coming to his world.

We see the brutality spawned by the local KKK as the men’s children are attacked. Roberts’ son is murdered, and both men’s daughters raped and left to die. The story’s tapestry includes the frontlines of the movement, such as an attack on the Freedom Riders, the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, a march in Little Rock, and other events of the time. With intrigue and unexpected surprises in the lives of various characters introduced through the story, Strickland takes readers through to a heartfelt ending when “Little Willis” joins the families in joy.

The hateful acts of social injustice continue right to the end, with a young boy’s courage tested as he is called upon to remember his mother’s teaching that hate only creates more hate. A defiant act, nonetheless, brings him some satisfaction.

The Kiss is another compelling novel by Sharon Hart Strickland. Readers will find a story where the plot builds, layer upon layer, to a dramatic closing uniquely appropriate for each of the characters. In this book, Strickland proves she can address a difficult issue; her vivid descriptions bring characters to life and helps them deal with bigotry and hatred; as fictionalized historical events move to an inevitable conclusion.

Strickland’s writing style is both eloquent and earthy. Her vocabulary is extensive, and she chooses words as skillfully as any artist chooses colors from a pallet. The effect—although sometimes painful to read—is writing that is beautiful and expressive. Racial strife never brings comfort; reading about it is raw, yet this historical novel by Strickland is impossible to put down!

Social justice waxes and wanes; at many levels, self-satisfied notions about civil order and structure continue to raise their nasty heads. Only when we agree to face social justice and take a stand for it, as Strickland has in writing The Kiss, is there any hope of removing hate, hurt, pain, brutality.