Heartland

When Neil Cross Was Five Years Old, His Mother Left Him. No Note, No Phone Call, Just An Empty House And A Brow-beaten Father. Two Years Later, She Came Back For Her Son. She Was Not Alone. Neil's New Step-father Was A South-african White Supremacist. He Was A Serial Adulterer, A Thief, A Con Man, A Racist And A Liar. And In Many Ways, He Was The Perfect Father. In Their Backstreet Edinburgh Slum, Derek Cross Introduced Neil To Tom Sawyer, Kidnapped, And The Three Musketeers, And Whilst His Step-son Battled Violent Anti-english Racism Everyday In The Playground, Derek Discovered A New Way To Isolate His Family; He Became A Mormon Bishop In The Church Of The Latter Day Saints. This Is A Story About Being Raised A Racist And An Outsider - And Overcoming It; About Family And Step-family; About Class And Religion; And About How Resentment Breeds Violence. And It's About What, In The End, The Love Of Books Can Do For You.