First published 2015
Layla Beck's senator father stops her allowance in summer 1938 and forces her to work for the Federal Writers' Project. She gets shipped to Macedonia, West Virginia, to record the mill town's history. Layla expects crushing boredom but finds a room with the Romeyn family instead. Twelve year old Willa Romeyn hungers to understand everything around her, especially her father's mysterious work and why her beloved aunt Jottie never married. When Layla starts digging into town records and family stories, she ignites secrets the Romeyns have kept buried for years. Willa begins her own investigation into her family's past. Both women discover that Macedonia's official history hides darker truths about the Romeyn family's role in the town. Their searches force everyone to confront what really happened and who they really are.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, family-drama
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Macedonia, West Virginia
Period: 1938
493 pages · Hardcover · The Dial Press