First published 2000
Cassie Logan watches her parents count coins at the kitchen table, calculating mortgage payments on their 400 acres of Mississippi farmland. While their sharecropping neighbors sink deeper into debt, the Logan family clings to their property as their only path to freedom in a segregated world. But their land ownership angers local whites who expect Black families to remain dependent. Cassie and her brothers navigate a dangerous balance, learning to preserve their self-respect while following the unwritten rules that govern their community. When tensions escalate, the children discover that keeping their dignity intact requires courage they didn't know they possessed. The family's determination to hold onto their land becomes a test of their unity against forces determined to strip away their independence. This story reveals how one family's refusal to surrender their dreams provides strength in a world designed to break their spirit.
Genres: american-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Mississippi
Period: 20th-century
348 pages · Hardcover · Library Reproduction Services
Content warnings: racism