Mannie, the Major, and the Teef

As World War II breaks out in Europe, a brokenhearted boy arrives in Charleston, his family splintered by a tobacco barn fire that killed his mother and cost the family farm. In the years that follow, Tee McLauren will be transformed from a rule-breaking “teef” — which is almost indistinguishable from being a “thief” — into a fine young man, thanks to a remarkable group of unlikely friends. From the deceptively sleepy streets of prewar Charleston to the brutal jungles of the Pacific theater of war, Jack McIntosh draws a compelling portrait of this young man’s coming of age and the enduring value of friendship.