260 pages · Released Mar 18, 2003 · Harper Collins
Content report card
Taft parent’s guide: what’s inside
Medium confidence
LGBTQ+ themes
None · 0/5
What it offers
Educational value
Good · 3/5
A note for parents
Taft is an adult literary novel centered on complex family relationships, redemption, and second chances rather than a children's or young adult book. While not graphically violent, it deals with mature themes including alcoholism, family estrangement, and the complications of human relationships in a bar setting. The story offers strong messages about compassion and acceptance across racial and class divides, with a protagonist who makes thoughtful moral choices.
John Nickel, an African American blues musician managing a Memphis bar, hires a white brother and sister even though he knows they mean trouble, as he pines to be reunited with his son.John Nickel, an African American blues musician managing a Memphis bar, hires a white brother and sister even though he knows they mean trouble, as he pines to be reunited with his son.
