Tonight I Lie with William Cullen Bryant is literary fiction with touches of Southern Gothic, "coming-of-age," mystery, and the humor that saves us daily. It offers a wry comment on race relations and proof that many of today's concerns (e.g., the American Dream, migrants, "gypsies," victimization of the weak, and persistent blindness to that beneath the surface) were seeded in a past-that-teaches. All humans have "big" lives with the potential to enrich or subvert the human cause. A compelling novel written with masterful touch and attention to detail.