Washoe County Library System

A tale told in dual narratives during the 1918 flu epidemic in New York and in 1955 San Jose explores the nature of family secrets and the complex bonds between mothers and daughters, as a 14-year-old girl becomes increasingly concerned about her writer mother's advancing depression.

Raised by her aunt until she is six, Betty, who will later marry Malcolm X, joins her mother and stepfamily in 1940s Detroit, where she learns about the civil rights movement.