Ray Allen Smith

Oklawaha Run Ray Allen Smith

Born where the Oklawaha River flows, Rayland Rivers faces the realities of the late 1870s. After the war and before the railroads, even before Lake County was carved out of Sumter County, Florida folk, both black and white, wring a living from a hostile world. Rayland has little success in seeking peaceful solutions to the weight of the world. Still, strength and fortitude sustain him when his inborn moral values are pummeled by those who have little of their own.