It’s been said that those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We are not the first generation to suffer economic challenges nor will we be the last. Difficult times require difficult decisions that often test the mettle of who we are and what we stand for. An Uncertain Justice is a novel based on the true story of three young men standing at a crossroads. It is 1922. The Durham Mine on Lookout Mountain, Georgia is closing and the sprawling town will cease to exist without the mine and the work it provides its citizens. The choices these men make will forever affect their lives, their communities and generations that follow.

Sherman Morton is one of those young men. In the face of financial ruin, he buckles down, works hard, and moves with his family to find employment. Though difficult, he leaves his loving extended family behind, including his Grandpa Joe, the local deputy sheriff.

George Baker takes his brother Ralph down another path leading to addiction and illegal activities. Eventually this road lands them both in prison with a death sentence for the murder of a local deputy sheriff (Grandpa Joe to those who love him most).

The deputy sheriff’s murder sends his grandson Sherman into a tail-spin. Unsure of his foundation, Sherman becomes self-righteous, bitter and vengeful. An Uncertain Justice is his journey through the darkest year of his life.

Within the pages of this gripping fictionalized history, the reader is drawn with Sherman into a maze of moral dilemma. It is a time and place not unlike our own: a community in which saints are often sinners, and sinners are sometimes saints. With Sherman, the reader discovers that “truth” may well be in the eye of the beholder.

Based on a true story. Sherman Morton was Marnie Pehrson’s paternal grandfather. Due for release in late Summer/early Fall 2009.

Book Trailer:

Music in video by Noah Collins.