![]() The story begins with a strange request: a wealthy white man named Bennet asks to rent out the basement of the home of Charles Blakey, who is black. My friend Don gave me this book to read several years ago, and it still affects me when I think about it. ![]() Charles's summer with a man in his basement turns into an exploration of inconceivable worlds of power and manipulation, and unimagined realms of humanity. Tempted to understand a set of codes that has always eluded him. ![]() At first he resists, but soon he is tempted - tempted by the opportunity to understand the secret ways of white folks. Anniston has some very particular requests for his landlord, and try as he might, Charles cannot avoid being lured into Bennet's strange world. Once Anniston Bennet is installed in his basement, Charles is cast into a role he never dreamed of. But financial necessity leaves him no choice. There is something deeper and darker about his request, and Charles does not need any more trouble. The money would be welcome.īut Charles Blakey is black and Anniston Bennet is white, and it is clear that the stranger wants more than a basement view. The beautiful house has been in the Blakey family for generations, but Charles has just lost his job and is behind on his mortgage payments. ![]() He wants to spend the summer in Charles's basement, and Charles cannot even begin to guess why. The man at Charles Blakey's door has a proposition almost too strange for words. ![]()
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