The acclaimed bestseller -- a selection of Oprah's Book Club -- that brings vividly to life the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, circa 1925, and a community reeling from a young girl's tragic death.When five-year-old Clara Bynum drowns in the Potomac River under a seemingly haunted rock outcropping known locally as the Three Sisters, the community must reconcile themselves to the bitter tragedy.Clarke powerful charts the fallout from Clara's death...

Discover the rich stories of The People of Russell's Knob in the 20th and 21st centuries in "Alive Nearby." This novel by best-selling historical fiction author Breena Clarke provides intricate backstories of the complex characters in "Angels Make Their Hope Here." The novel explores how Russell's Knob, a hidden and marooned town in New Jersey's highlands, managed to preserve its existence and vibrant history despite slavery, war, and Jim Crow. "Alive Nearby" brings to life the characters ...

"Passionate, dramatic, and uplifting" ( Washington Post), Stand the Storm is an "evocative, historically rich" novel ( Time) from the author of River, Cross My Heart set among the free African American community of pre-Civil War Washington, DC.Even though Sewing Annie Coats and her son, Gabriel, have managed to buy their freedom, their lives are still marked by constant struggle and sacrifice. Washington's Georgetown neighborhood,...

Russell's Knob is not paradise. But already in 1849 this New Jersey highlands settlement is home to a diverse population of blacks, whites, and reds who have intermarried and lived in relative harmony for generations. It is a haven for Dossie Bird, who has escaped north along the Underground Railroad and now feels the embrace of the Smoot family.Duncan Smoot presides as accidental patriarch, protector of his enterprising sister, Hattie, and his two rambunctious nephews. As Dossie bu...

The acclaimed bestseller—a selection of Oprah’s Book Club—that brings vividly to life the Georgetownneighborhood of Washington, DC, circa 1925, and a community reeling from a young girl’s tragic death.When five-year-old Clara Bynum drowns in the Potomac River under a seemingly haunted rock outcroppingknown locally as the Three Sisters, the community must reconcile themselves to the bitter tragedy.Clarke powerfully charts the fallout from Clara’s death on the p...

Russell's Knob is not paradise. But already in 1849 this New Jersey highlands settlement is home to a diverse population of blacks, whites, and reds who have intermarried and lived in relative harmony for generations. It is a haven for Dossie Bird, who has escaped north along the Underground Railroad and now feels the embrace of the Smoot family.Duncan Smoot presides as accidental patriarch, protector of his enterprising sister, Hattie, and his two rambunctious nephews. As Dossie b...

Even though Sewing Annie Coats and her son, Gabriel, have managed to buy their freedom, their lives are still marked by constant struggle and sacrifice. Washington's Georgetown neighborhood, where the Coatses operate a tailor's shop and laundry, is supposed to be a "promised land" for former slaves, but it is effectively a frontier town, gritty and dangerous, with no laws protecting black people.The remarkable emotional energy with which the Coatses wage their daily battles—as they...

Inspired by real-life legendary choreographer Katherine Dunham’s groundbreaking expedition into the heart of Caribbean dance culture, this uniquely captivating novel imagines the experiences of three very different women who accompany her, hoping to find their destinies—yet find themselves forced to survive a historic event …Chicago, 1935. Othella is an orphaned con artist who needs to escape the city's brutal underworld … or else. Vivian Jean is ...

A young war widow is unwittingly drawn into a sinister web of intrigue and murder in this taut, unexpected, masterfully plotted historical thriller set in WWII-era Seattle, where the enemy may be closer than anyone thinks. A crafty, addictive read for fans of The Americans, Anna Pitoniak, Graham Moore, and Elizabeth Wein.**“A page-turning masterclass in storytelling— historically captivating, emotionally rich, and crackling with slow-burn menace.” ...

When Mary Todd meets Abraham Lincoln in Springfield in the winter of 1840, he is on no one's shortlist to be president. Rough and reticent, he's a country lawyer lacking money and manners, living above a dry goods shop, but with a gift for oratory. Mary, a quick, self-possessed debutante with a tireless interest in debates and elections, at first finds him an enigma. "I can only hope," she tells his roommate, the handsome, charming Joshua Speed, "that his waters being so very still, they a...

In Lose Your Mother, Saidiya Hartman traces the history of the Atlantic slave trade by recounting a journey she took along a slave route in Ghana. Following the trail of captives from the hinterland to the Atlantic coast, she reckons with the blank slate of her own genealogy and vividly dramatizes the effects of slavery on three centuries of African and African American history.The slave, Hartman observes, is a stranger—torn from family, home, and country. To lose your mot...

Named a most anticipated novel by Oprah Daily, Vogue, Parade, The Millions, and Electric Lit • A Reader’s Digest Quarantine Book Club Pick • Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel PrizeA “rugged and ravishing” (Oprah Daily) debut novel of desire, betrayal, and loss, centering on three teenage girls, a horse ranch, and the accident that changes everything.It’s 1993, and Rory Ramos works as a ran...