THE WORD-OF-MOUTH HIT THAT BECAME A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

'SHATTERING' SIGRID NUNEZ
'BEAUTIFUL' USA TODAY
'UNFORGETTABLE' TAYARI JONES

In 1850s Ohio, a free territory before the Civil War, Tawawa House is an idyllic retreat for Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their enslaved black mistresses. It's their open secret. Lizzie, Reenie, and Sweet are regulars at the resort, building strong friendships over the years. But when they are joined by Mawu, as fearless as she is assured, the seeds of an escape are planted.

To run away is to leave everything behind, and for some it will be harder to break the emotional and psychological bonds that bind them to their masters. When a fire on the resort sets off a string of tragedies, the women of Tawawa House soon learn that triumph and dehumanization are inseparable and that love exists even in the darkest circumstances - all while they bear witness to the end of an era.

The bestselling debut novel from Dolen Perkins-Valdez, based on little-known fact, tells the story of four Black enslaved women in the years preceding the Civil War