Stand The Storm

The author of Oprah Book Club selection River, Cross My Heart, returns with a gripping new novel about a family’s surprising journey out of slavery.

Even after Sewing Annie Coats and her son Gabriel have managed to buy their freedom, their days are marked by struggle and sacrifice - so much so that Annie sometimes secretly recalls time spent on the plantation with nostalgia. Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood, where the Coatses run a tailor shop and laundry, is supposed to be a safe haven for former slaves. But in fact, it’s a frontier town - gritty and dangerous.

The remarkable emotional energy with which the Coatses surmount the obstacles they face is what fuels this novel and makes its startling denouement so powerfully affecting.