The Bells of Moses Henry chronicles the adventures of a seven year old mulatto boy named Willie Graves during the 1950s. Blamed for the murder of his father, Willie navigates the physical and psychological landscape of Virginia, from his mother's Charlottesville bordello and the rich apple orchards of Winchester, to the majestic terrain of the Chesapeake and the dark and foreboding Dismal Swamp.
Sustained by the wisdom of an old African American bell ringer and the kindness of a roughneck hobo, Willie Graves is introduced to the life of train hoppers, crabbers, farm workers, juke joints, thieves, murderers, policemen, prostitutes-- without whom he could not have survived.
The Bells of Moses is a story of loss, adventure and reconciliation.