Lamb's family strives to better their lives in Jackson, Mississippi, in the late 1930s. Lambs mother is a hard-working, creative seamstress who cannot reveal she's a lesbian. Lambs brother has a brilliant mind and has even earned a college scholarship for a black college up northif only he could curb his impulsiveness and rebellious nature. Lamb herself is a quiet and studious girl. She is also nave. As she tentatively accepts the friendly overtures of a white girl who loans her a book she loves, she sets a off a calamitous series of events that pulls in her mother, charming hustler uncle, estranged father, and brotherand ends in a lynching. Told with nuance and subtlety, avoiding sensationalism and unnecessary brutality, this young-adult novel from celebrated author Lesa Cline-Ransome pays homage to the female victims of white supremacy.
