The Lock of Indian Springs

The Lock of Indian Springs grabs us with an unforgettable narrative voice that draws us into a young boy’s life—and leaves us longing for more. It’s 1960, school is out for the summer, and rural Mississippi yields plenty of excitement for a boy and his friends—play, life’s adventures, dangers, and dilemmas—all experienced and told from the charming point-of-view of eleven-year-old Vern. Indeed, Vern takes chances, wrestles with outcomes, and asks himself the bigger questions—like how to go somewhere without his little sister, and whether he might go to hell for losing his daddy’s wrench. Then life takes on scary new dimensions--from fires to near-drownings and the death of a beloved neighbor. Vern must suddenly bargain with life in deeper ways. But he is helped by his daddy showing him what it means to “do what’s right,” no matter what, and that of course, you can always just go fishin’.