The first novel by USC alumni and South Carolina native Mark Powell follows the wanderings of fifteen year-old Ernest Cobb after he leaves home following the death of his girlfriend. In his travels through the Smoky Mountains he makes several detours along the way and meets an interesting cast of characters. These characters lives intertwine in ways that are slowly revealed as the story progresses. The novel is rooted in the life of mountain people in the South in the 1940s and the author paints a vivid picture of their world. It is a study of not only the isolation of human existence, but also its resilience. Prodigals is a great addition to the tradition of great Southern literature.