Driving the King

<p><strong>An indelible portrait of prejudice and promise friendship and loyalty <em>Driving the King</em> is a daring novel that explores race and class in pre-Civil Rights America played out in the lives of two remarkable men.</strong></p><p>The war is over the soldiers are returning and Nat King Cole is back in his hometown of Montgomery Alabama for a rare performance. His childhood friend Nat Weary plans to propose to his sweetheart and the singer will honor their moment with a special song. While the world has changed segregated Jim Crow Montgomery remains the same. When a white man attacks Cole with a pipe Weary leaps from the audience to defend him--an act that will lead to a ten-year prison sentence.</p><p>But the singer will not forget his friend and the sacrifice he made. Six months before Weary is released he receives a remarkable offer: will he be Nat King Cole's driver and bodyguard in L.A.? It is the promise of a new life removed from the terror violence and degradation of Jim Crow Alabama.</p><p>Weary discovers that while Los Angeles is far different from the Deep South it a place of discrimination mistrust and intolerance where a black man--even one as talented and popular as Nat King Cole--is not wholly welcome.</p>