Parables of Light

Parables of Light is a novel that traces a theological, political, and philosophical journey that begins in the 1960s when the insightful but unlikely narrator is a teenager growing up in Nashville. After having an intense reaction to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination of President Kennedy, he goes on to experience the turmoil brought about by the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and by the war in Vietnam. A failed athlete, he finds resonance as a coach of children's athletics. A failed student, he eventually finds fulfillment through his discovery of local history. When he believes he may have finally found his dream girl, he contends with feelings he regards as improper. Watching his parents age and seeing his neighborhood destroyed by overdevelopment, he confronts a future that seems increasingly bleak. A dark secret is disclosed, and with the help of a succession of mentors, his lifelong struggle to emerge from his own shadow gains momentum. Driven by his search for what is true and by what he sees as his cowardice, he decides to put himself in danger. He ultimately writes a story that could save his life, and through that story, the context of the world is brought into sharp focus.

Parables of Light weaves together the narrator's understanding of religion, politics, race relations, with his search for a meaningful path through life. It includes the destruction of an American neighborhood, an inappropriate romantic temptation, the discovery of a gift as well as a grim secret, and ultimately has global implications.
McChesney Allen was born in 1947 and is a lifelong resident of Middle Tennessee.