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by Catherine Tucker (Author)
In the summer of 1970, in the small town of Lowell, Mississippi, ten-year-old Bailey Connor lives in constant fear of his abusive father, Otis. His mother, Annie, dreams of an escape and accepts a job working for Jim Cunningham, a wealthy white plantation owner. But when Jim is found brutally stabbed to death, Annie, a Black woman in a town still deeply segregated, is quickly accused of the crime. Since the Connors have no money for a lawyer and the nearly all-white jury is poised to convict, Annie's fate seems sealed-the electric chair waits in the shadows.
While visiting Lowell, Jonathan Streeter, a prominent Black attorney with a troubled past, reluctantly agrees to take on Annie's case. With Bailey's world thrown further into turmoil, he desperately tries to help Jonathan free his mother.
As the trial gains national attention, Jonathan uncovers a tangled web of lies, corruption, and deep-seated racial hatred woven into the very fabric of Lowell, all tied to Jim's murder. While violence escalates and interference from the local KKK grows, Jonathan and Bailey become trapped in a life-and-death struggle against those determined to bury the truth... and the two of them along with it.
