Five-Carat Soul Summary
McBride, James

Five-Carat Soul Overview

In this collection of short stories, author James McBride shows readers an impoverished Pennsylvania town through the eyes of a teenage narrator called Butter, the gates of hell where a boxer fights to redeem mankind, and a zoo where a captive lion speaks telepathically with his keeper. Elsewhere, a toy collector seeks a priceless model train, an orphan seeks his father at the end of the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln receives inspiration from the White House stable staff. In these affecting stories, McBride explores themes of race, war, slavery, and the soul and its salvation.