Sonny Goodman may have hopped the "modern underground railroad called education" and arrived in far-flung Minneapolis, but with the impending death of his father, North Philadelphia is calling him home. Quickly caught in the web that inner-city life has woven around his family's dreams, Sonny must find the strength to confront the toll urban corrosion has wrought upon the ones he loves.

Named Best First Novel by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, winner of the Minnesota Book Award and compared to the work of James Baldwin and August Wilson, Alexs D. Pate's highly absorbing debut novel "rings with a truth as immediate as body counts in the headlines, as enduring as a classic tragedy."--"San Francisco Chronicle"

Set in the early 1960s, West of Rehoboth is the moving story of twelve-year-old Edward Massey. Each summer, to escape the heat of Philadelphia, Edward's family moves to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The "coloreds only" side of a pristine resort on Rehoboth Beach offers work for his mother and a sandy playground for his sister. But for Edward -- an imaginative, inquisitive boy -- it offers the chance to understand his reclusive, curmudgeonly Uncle Rufus, a man caught in a swirl of hard luck and bad choices.

Forging a tenuous bond, their relationship will take Edward on a harrowing journey through Rufus's past, facing the violence, disappointment, and frustration that shaped his destiny. Award-winning author Alexs Pate tells a mesmerizing story -- of family, of coming of age, of reconciliation -- revealing the extraordinary compassion and healing power of one unforgettable boy.