Jessilyn Lassiter no longer has to convince people she x2019;s not a child. Having just turned 19 in the summer of 1938, her love for Luke Talley has never been more real. And Luke is finally beginning to care for her in the way she x2019;s always dreamed of. But their budding romance is interrupted when Tal Pritchett x2014;a young, black doctor x2014;comes to Calloway, stealing the heart of Jessilyn x2019;s best friend, Gemma, and stirring up the racial prejudice that has been simmering just beneath the town x2019;s surface. The tension starts to bubble over when Jessie x2019;s elderly neighbor Miss Cleta becomes the first white townsperson to accept Tal x2019;s treatment. And when a young black man is lynched, Calloway is brought to its knees once again as Jessilyn realizes that her anger can make her heart as full of hate as the klan members who have terrorized her town and her family.
