Publisher's Synopsis
"Fans of American historical fiction and strong women will be delighted by this vivid story of love and activism in 1918 Georgia."--BookLife Reviews (Editor's Pick)
"A thoughtful account of early-20th-century racial tensions." --Kirkus Reviews
Meet Anne Aletha, who fought for equality for all ... in 1918. Amid World War I, the Spanish Influenza, and a re-emerging Ku Klux Klan, a young unconventional schoolteacher inherits her uncle's cash-strapped farm in the Deep South with the intention of opening a school to educate all children--rich or poor, black or white. Her ambitions and her courage to challenge the systematic racial injustice she witnesses daily plunge herself and those she loves into the violence of the Klan.
Anne Aletha evokes the fortitude of Jane Eyre and the moral conscience of To Kill a Mockingbird, inviting the reader to reflect on the legacy of civil rights and women's suffrage--and the road that still remains to be traveled.
Readers will be presented with many correlations between today and 1918. Some may be surprised that the Klan presented themselves as upstanding Christian men protecting America's home front or that the Spanish Influenza was far more deadly than the Coronavirus facing the world today. The author's compelling and stirring read will illuminate as well as entertain while demonstrating how one woman's courage against racism can make a difference.
