Sun Hughes, the youngest child of a middle-class family, must learn to deal with life's harsh realities when the Depression reverses his family's fortunes. Sent to live with his Uncle Pet, a proud and zealous Baptist determined to bring religion to his nephew, Sun grows up--and grows wise--as the world his Mama and Papa kept at a distance slowly comes into focus in stark black and white. The powerful metaphor of the moaner's bench--where sinners kneel in church while waiting for the Spirit to strike them into repentance--infuses this often heartbreaking, often hilarious novel of innocence lost. Lyrically written, with a sly sense of humor, The Moaner's Bench is ultimately a story of healing-healing within oneself, healing between oneself and another, and healing within a nation.