First published 2000
Clara Bynum slips beneath the waters of the Potomac River near the Three Sisters rock formation, leaving her family shattered. Her parents Alice and Willie had moved from rural North Carolina to Georgetown seeking better opportunities, but now they face unimaginable loss in their new city home. Ten-year-old Johnnie Mae struggles most of all with her sister's death. She wrestles with guilt, confusion, and grief while trying to understand what Clara's absence means for her own future. The Bynum family's friends and neighbors in their Georgetown community also feel the ripple effects of the tragedy. Alice and Willie find themselves caught between their Southern roots and their urban present as they navigate their grief. Johnnie Mae must decide who she wants to become while carrying the weight of being the surviving daughter. The story explores how one family processes devastating loss while building a new life far from home.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, family-drama, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate
Tropes: found-family, grief
Setting: Georgetown, North Carolina, Potomac River, Three Sisters
Period: 20th-century
Hardcover · Oxmoor House
Content warnings: death