Colleen Kelley Riggs

Beyond the Tracks Colleen Kelley Riggs

It is in Sedalia, Missouri in the 1940s that the scene is set for a young black girl and her family. Due to her mother's and her grandmother's different views on handling prejudice, Nadine works through confusion to find her own place in society. Her father, as the mailman and a likable figure in the community, stands by in full support of his beloved daughter. Nadine is richly blessed with talent as a singer, along with ample ambition, to make that her career in life. With beauty and a great personality, perhaps she can escape her surroundings and find a better life somewhere beyond the tracks. If she moves forward with her plan of becoming a singer, however, she must leave behind her relationship with a boy whose heart she has stolen.