Evergreen : Blackstone Publishing : 9781982692025 : 1982692022 : 01 Jul 2019 : Willie Black knew he had a father, even if he didn't know where he was buried. It wasn't like Artie Lee gave his son anything but his genes. He died when Willie was fifteen months old, and Artie and Peggy never married. They couldn't have, in the segregated commonwealth of Virginia in 1960. Then, in January of 2018, Artie Lee, dead almost fifty-seven years, reinserts himself into his son's life. Philomena Slade calls Willie, the mixed-race night reporter for the local daily rag, to her death bed to ask him a favor he can't refuse: Keep Artie's grave clean. She's been doing it after everybody else who knew him either died or chose to forget they ever knew Artie Lee.Willie Black finds his father's final resting place in Evergreen, an abandoned cemetery on the east side of Richmond where full-grown trees and thickets obscure memorials to people who, like Artie Lee, are long-forgotten. Willie soon discovers t