Taking a step back in time, Larry C. Timbs, Jr. and Michael Manuel want to help spotlight the racial experiences in Carter County during the Civil War era.
With the book hitting stores and available online, Justice for Toby is slated to hit Food City service lanes this weekend and be available to the public.
The book, the second penned by both authors, was published by Ingalls Publishing Group, based out of North Carolina, and serves as the sequel to their first novel, Fish Springs: Beneath the Surface.
Timbs, Jr. added that their first book was nonfiction but their recent addition is fiction, but uses different historic landmarks across Carter County to help showcase the local history and tell the story of how slaves were received at the end of the Civil War.
“We’ve got an important book here but there are very few books in Tennessee or in Appalachia that discuss the fate of slaves post-Civil War,” Timbs, Jr. said. “Most of the local histories mainly focus on black people. Most of the people in the mountain were white but there were a few slaves that made their way through here from South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. They had to struggle back then. Most of this story is after the Civil War. They were free but there was still prejudice.”
Manuel added that Justice for Toby tells the story of two main characters, Isaiah Washington and his wife, as they scour through the pages looking for a way to find justice for their fallen friend.
“Mike and I have seen some challenges writing this book,” Timbs, Jr. said. “We had to get inside the mind of our characters and how they would have dealt with these issues, we had a professional editor in Boone, Judy Geary, that edited and provided help with historic facts and researching.”
The development of the story proves to be key nowadays, Timbs, Jr. added, with the current climate of the world.
“We think this is a really important topic,” he said. “There’s so much interest on black history with all the different movies that have came out and different things going on across the country.”
Manuel said that the book is being marketed locally, but hope to see the interest grow to different retailers across the country.
Different historic pieces are used in the book, including the Wanderer, the last slave ship to reach the U.S. shores. The Snyder House, first hotel in Elizabethton that operated from 1850 till the 1900s, plays a piece in the story.
Even on the cover of the book, which features a slave, is a photo taken by Manuel of the Watauga River at Sycamore Shoals State Park.
The price of the book is $18.99 and is available at different small businesses in the area and local Food City markets. Manuel added the book is available online at different shops including Amazon and Kindle.