Julia Turner, an ambitious educator in her mid-thirties, leaves a high-profile job in Chicago to return to Dayton, Ohio to serve as superintendent of Christian Light, the K-12 private school system from which she graduated two decades earlier. A single mother with an ugly divorce and a complex childhood in her rearview mirror, Julia views her mission as a chance to contribute to her hometown and conquer the demons from her past. But she never expects to confront the one sin she and her childhood friends agree to bury as teens-the accident that left Eddie Walker hospitalized and incapacitated.
Meanwhile, Detective Peter Whitlock, Eddie Walker's older bother, is still determined to find the person(s) responsible for his brother's condition. As an unrelated investigation leads to another woman who is involved in the accident, the responsible parties must decide whether they will keep their dark secrets, or tell the truth and let God decide the outcome.
From Publishers Weekly
Knight (The Things We Do for Love) weaves a somewhat implausible story line that delves into the past of four African-American teen girls who attended a mostly white Christian high school in Dayton, Ohio. Lurking in the minds of these now accomplished adult women is the memory of an attempted sexual assault from 20 years earlier, when the intended victim turned the tables on her white fellow student assailant. Julia Turner, a skilled educator, returns to Christian Light School (where the crime was committed) and tries to make a difference in the community at large. Turner soon realizes she cannot run from the past and its consequences when she is pressured by unlikely sources to face the truth. Close friends, a former romantic interest and the Holy Spirit's nudging convince Turner to bravely set a different course for herself. Fans of Knight's previous works will appreciate the author's underlying message of righting societal wrongs. But so much of the novel's dialogue is unnaturally stilted that it detracts from the impact the author intended. (Mar.)
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About the Author
Xavier Knight, pseudonym for C. Kelly Robinson, is Essence bestselling author of NOT ALL DOGS, BETWEEN BROTHERS, NO MORE MR. NICE GUY, THE STRONG SILENT TYPE, and THE PERFECT BLEND. Xavier is currently in Dayton, Ohio with his wife Kyra, busy at work on his next novel.
Visit Xavier at www.ckellyrobinson.com.