In Magic Time, award-winning novelist Doug Marlette combines the spellbinding elements of a first-rate mystery with an evocative, bittersweet portrait of the Civil Rights Movement’s most valiant heroism. Moving deftly between that tumultuous period and the 1990s, this is the story of Carter Ransom, a son of the South who rose through the ranks as a journalist and became a successful New York newspaper columnist. When a bombing in Manhattan nearly claims the life of the woman he loves, he finds himself confronting emotional scars from thirty years ago. Returning to his hometown of Troy, Mississippi, he must sift through the memories of the deadly violence that shattered everything he had believed about hope.

It was during the cataclysmic Freedom Summer of 1964 that Carter fell passionately in love with Sarah, an East Coast volunteer working in the trenches of the Deep South to further the cause of racial equality. But their relationship was not allowed to flourish; she and three other coworkers lost their lives in a brutal Ku Klux Klan ambush. Carter’s father, a local judge, presided over the first trial for the murders. But now there’s evidence that the original trial was flawed, even fraudulent. With a new trial brewing, and the images of the East Coast bombing fresh on his mind, Carter must finally confront his greatest fears, including the possibility that his own father was knowingly involved in a cover-up that set a killer free.

With an enthralling story line about a provocative chapter in American history, Magic Time yields rich topics for conversation. We hope the following questions will enrich your experience as you explore this riveting novel of justice and love.