The Buffalo Soldier

Young Alfred is a ten year old African-American boy from Burlington whose life to date has been a trial. Shuttled from foster family to group home, the boy is on the verge of being lost to the kind of despair that can envelop unwanted children. He cautiously enters the Sheldon family circle, barely willing to hope that he can find a permanent place for himself among these kind people, who are still distracted by grief following the disappearance of their twin daughters, drowned two years before in a flash flood. Across the street from the Sheldons live an older couple, who take Alfred under their wings as surrogate grandparents, and it is they who introduce him to the history of the buffalo soldiers, African-American cavalry troopers whose reputation for bravery and honour inspires the child. Just as life seems to be settling into some sort of normal patterns, Terry who has never been unfaithful to Laura finds himself deeply attracted to the solace offered by another woman's arms. Their encounter, brief as it is, finds the woman pregnant with his baby, a child Terry suddenly realizes he urgently wants. THE BUFFALO SOLIDER is a lyrical and richly textured story that explores the complexity of marriage, the bond between parents and children, and the relationships that cause a community to be a family.


Genre: Literary Fiction