First published 2026
Lauren Collins examines the 1898 Wilmington massacre through the experiences of four families: the Howes, Halseys, Moores, and Bellamy/MacRaes. On November 10, 1898, white supremacists murdered dozens of Black citizens and overthrew the city's democratically elected biracial government in America's only successful coup. Collins follows these families across five generations, from Reconstruction's promise through Jim Crow, the Great Migration, Civil Rights, and up to the 2020 racial justice protests. She works directly with living descendants from both Black and white families to recover details that were deliberately erased from official records. The book reveals how this single act of racial terrorism shaped not just Wilmington but American democracy itself, connecting the violence of 1898 to contemporary struggles for racial justice.
Genres: historical-fiction, 21st-century, african-american-historical-fiction, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-secrets, found-family
Setting: Wilmington, America
Period: Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Great Migration, Civil Rights, 2020
528 pages · Hardcover · Penguin Press
Content warnings: racism, violence