Tender: A Novel

East Tupelo was a sprinkling of poor houses at the scratched-out back edge of Mississippi--and the birthplace of a boy who would become the greatest rock legend of his time.. In Tender novelist Mark Childress has redefined the American epic. He takes us on a wild ride through the last three decades as his fictional hero Leroy Kirby makes his meteoric rise to stardom from the poverty-stricken child of an overprotective mother and absent father to an icon who stands for everything American--a role that will ultimately consume him. After reading Tender you will never think about the South fame or rock-and-roll the same way again.