Historical Fiction, Southern, Gay, Oklahoma, Conservative, LGBTQ 

The Croy Cycle Book 1 

If I Remember Him is an LGBTQ historical novel set in the small town of Croy, Oklahoma, in the 1950s. The action is begins fifteen years earlier when a monstrous tornado all but wipes the town off the map. Lerner Phillip Alquist, the town's wealthiest citizen, vows to build a library as a memorial to his wife, who died in the storm. Two wars and economic depression delay the construction, but by 1952 the structure is ready to be dedicated, its entrance adorned with a terra cotta sculpture commemorating the town's history and featuring likenesses of many of its leading citizens. However, sexual tensions, the town's growing religious conservatism, and Alquist's own racism threaten to undermine the project just as it nears completion. Will the library and its commemorative sculpture unite the town's fractured communities, or cause them to shatter and erupt in violence?