Margaret returns to her childhood home in Virginia after her mother's death. The old house holds secrets she has spent decades avoiding. Letters hidden in the attic reveal family truths about the Civil War era that challenge everything she believed about her ancestors. Her great-great-grandmother's diary describes choices made during Reconstruction that divided the family for generations. As Margaret reads these accounts, she must decide whether to preserve the stories that shaped her family or finally speak the truth about their past. The red dress her ancestor wore becomes a symbol of both shame and courage. Margaret discovers that confronting history means accepting its contradictions and finding a way to live with uncomfortable truths.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, family-drama, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: confronting-the-past, family-secrets
Setting: Virginia
Period: Civil War Era, Reconstruction
Unknown Binding · University of North Carolina Press