The year is 1989 and dark currents lurk beneath the smooth surface of the snobbish Virginia campus where Adelaide Piper has come to study. Her poetic sensibility and idealism only irritate the socialites and cynics who notice her at all.

After a heartbreaking and violent loss of innocence, Adelaide must navigate between her genteel Southern upbringing and the gritty realities of a new generation. Only sheer determination, fueled by a spiritual awakening, will save her from drowning.

Ultimately Adelaide must return to the very ground she once cursed—and to a deeper appreciation for her Southern heritage, however broken and imperfect it may be.

Beth Webb Hart, the author Publishers Weekly called a “lovely, gifted writer,” introduces us to a colorful cast of truly Southern characters—and to a complex heroine whose courage and determination inspire us. Her story testifies to the truth and beauty residing in the human spirit.

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