First published 2023
Elise St. John already has enough problems. Her fiancé cheats on her. A social media controversy follows her everywhere. Then Kitty Karr Tate dies and leaves her multimillion-dollar estate to Elise and her two sisters. The press wants answers about why a white Hollywood legend would bequeath everything to three wealthy Black women she apparently never knew. Elise tries to handle Kitty's affairs quietly, but she finds a journal that changes everything. The entries reveal how Kitty rose from the segregated South to silver screen stardom through secrets that could destroy the St. John family. As Elise uncovers the truth about Kitty's past, she discovers unexpected family connections, old debts, and questionable acts that link their lives across decades. The deeper she digs, the more she must examine her own choices and the weight of secrets that outlive those who keep them.
Genres: romance, african-american, mystery, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Hollywood, South
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
416 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.