This was beautiful and painful and inspiring and horrific. I think probably anything in the South during the Civil Rights movement is. The book was very well written - told during 2 timelines, 1965 focused on Ellie who got involved in the SCOPE movement, and then 2010 focused on Kayla who moves into the street where Ellie grew up in and they later meet and connect stories. I loved (and was saddened) by both women’s stories and loved Ellie’s courage and strength.

I’ve never heard of the SCOPE program and it was really interesting to learn about. The horrible attitudes and treatment of black people in the south, especially so descriptively told at the end of the book with Win, was shocking but also realistic, I am aware. It made your heart break that people can treat each other like that and do that to another human being.

I think we need more books like this to bring awareness about what America looked like in it’s not so distant history, and how some of those same attitudes permeate society in slivers (or even vivid color in some places). Beautifully written and told and was hard to put down.