A haunting novel about a black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and
the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best
friends she left behind. More than a decade ago Mira fled her small segregated hometown in
the south to forget. With every mile she traveled she distanced herself from her past: from
her best friend Celine mocked by their town as the only white girl with black friends from
her old neighborhood from the eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits
of slaves from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day when a
dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse?the boy she secretly loved?arrested for murder. But now Mira
is back in Kipsen to attend Celine's wedding at the plantation which has been transformed into
a lush vacation resort. Mira hopes to reconnect with her friends and especially Jesse to
finally tell him the truth about her feelings and the events of that devastating long-ago day.
But for all its fancy renovations the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive racist
history. The bar serves antebellum drinks entertainment includes horrifying reenactments and
the service staff is nearly all black. Yet the darkest elements of the plantation's past have
been carefully erased?rumors that slaves were tortured mercilessly and that ghosts roam the
lands seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented them which includes most of
the wedding guests. As the weekend unfolds Mira Jesse and Celine are forced to acknowledge
their history together and to save themselves from what is to come.
