num_pages: 237
description: 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 Jessethe boy she secretly lovedarrested for murder.But now Mira is back in Kipsen to attend Celines 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 entertainments include horrifying reenactments and the service staff is nearly all black. Yet the darkest elements of the plantations past have been carefully erasedrumors 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.
language: English
title: When the Reckoning Comes
publisher: Harper Perennial