The way this book is woven together is simply masterful. There are two narratives, one of Will, a half white, half Osage boy living in Tulsa during the 1920s and another of Rowan, a half white, half black girl living in the same city during the late 2010s. When seventeen year old Rowan discovers an old skeleton on her family's property, she has no idea what secrets it will uncover and what she will learn about the history of her town and her own family.

For Will, one act of violence in a love-struck fit will set in motion an agonizing course of events. In a town segregated by Jim Crow laws, Will passes lawfully as white, but is still subject to racial slurs and bullying because of his Osage heritage. This didn't spark any empathy in Will toward the black community in his town until he learns the grizzly consequences of his drunken actions in a bar one night and befriends a little black girl who just won't stop trying to come into his father's Victrola shop.

Told in alternating chapters, Will's and Rowan's stories cover the same ground. As you read on, you'll discover names that seem to fit together across the century and details about characters will persist as stories told and memories shared across the generations. Watching these two separate narratives weave together as one was simply beautiful. That's what kept me reading when I honestly didn't want to know the end for some of the characters in Will's story.

This story covers the Tulsa Race Riot from the perspective of a mixed race character who experienced it firsthand and a mixed race character who learns of it through ties to her own land and her own racial firestorm around a hate crime she witnesses. This book is an excellent introduction to a chapter of history that was swept under the rug when I was in school and I only learned about after college. I hope my students read this book and I hope you read it too.