Farewell: A Memoir of a Texas Childhood Hardcover - 1999

From the publisher

In 1917, when Horton Foote was one year old, his family moved into a house on his grandparents property in Wharton, Texas. Seventy years later, he returned to that house where he still lives. And while the years between took this acclaimed writer many literal and figurative miles, he remained forever tied to the Texas roots that he explores in Farewell. Foote reveals memories of a complex Southern family full of secrets, an aspiring young actor shaped by the storytellers around him, and a world changing at a frenetic pace.

Foote, the author of A Trip to Bountiful, remembers a time in which black and white children played together until school age, when segregation forced them apart. But by drawing on the experiences of those around him, he transforms his memoir into something else entirely: a glimpse into history, and a heartfelt tribute to the passions, ideals, and complexities of small-town American life in the early part of this century. It is also a testimony to the power of storytelling. There is a frank simplicity in Foote's telling that makes Farewell a profoundly moving and illuminating reading experience, one that will long be remembered.