Award-winning author Tonya Bolden pens a poetic novel about a young African-American woman’s self-discovery in the Reconstruction Era.
As a young black woman in 1880s Savannah, Essie’s dreams are at odds with her reality. Unwilling to accept the path available to her, Essie is trapped between the life she has and the one she wants. Until she meets Dorcas Vashon, the richest and most cultured black woman she’s ever encountered. When Dorcas makes Essie an offer she can’t refuse, she becomes Victoria. Transformed by a fine wardrobe and a classic education, she is welcomed in the upper echelons of black society in DC. But when the life she desires is finally within her grasp, Victoria must decide how much of herself she is truly willing to lose.
In this searing historical novel, Tonya Bolden illuminates another pivotal period in American history with an intimate portrait of a young woman who risks everything for a future of her own making.