Homer Hickam won the praise of critics and the devotion of readers with his first two memoirs set in the hardscrabble mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia. <i>The New York Times</i> crowned his first book, the #1 national bestseller <b>October Sky</b>, “an eloquent evocation ... a thoroughly charming memoir.” And <i>People</i> called <b>The Coalwood Way</b>, Hickam's follow-up to <b>October Sky</b>, “a heartwarmer ... truly beautiful and haunting.” <br><br>Now Homer Hickam continues his extraordinary story with <b>Sky of Stone</b>, dazzling us with exquisite storytelling as he takes us back to that remarkable small town we first came to know and love in <b>October Sky</b>.<br><br>In the summer of '61, Homer “Sonny” Hickam, a year of college behind him, was dreaming of sandy beaches and rocket ships. But before Sonny could reach the seaside fixer-upper where his mother was spending the summer, a telephone call sends him back to the place he thought he had escaped, the gritty coal-mining town of Coalwood, West Virginia. There, Sonny's father, the mine's superintendent, has been accused of negligence in a man's death—and the townspeople are in conflict over the future of the town.<br><br>Sonny's mother, Elsie, has commanded her son to spend the summer in Coalwood to support his father. But within hours, Sonny realizes two things: His father, always cool and distant with his second son, doesn't want him there ... and his parents' marriage has begun to unravel. For Sonny, so begins a summer of discovery—of love, betrayal, and most of all, of a brooding mystery that threatens to destroy his father and his town. <br><br>Cut off from his college funds by his father, Sonny finds himself doing the unimaginable: taking a job as a “track-laying man,” the toughest in the mine. Moving out to live among the miners, Sonny is soon dazzled by a beautiful older woman who wants to be the mine's first female engineer. <br><br>And as the days of summer grow shorter, Sonny finds himself changing in surprising ways, taking the first real steps toward adulthood. But it's a journey he can make only by peering into the mysterious heart of Coalwood itself, and most of all, by unraveling the story of a man's death and a father's secret.<br><br>In <b>Sky of Stone</b>, Homer Hickam looks down the corridors of his past with love, humor, and forgiveness, brilliantly evoking a close-knit community where everyone knows everything about each other's lives—except the things that matter most. <b>Sky of Stone</b> is a memoir that reads like a novel, mesmerizing us with rich language, narrative drive, and sheer storytelling genius.