Jones, Tayari

"Newlyweds Celestial, an artist on the brink of an exciting career, and Roy, a young executive, as they settle into the routine of their life together, are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crim Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercly independent, Celstial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy's time in prison passes, she is unable to hold on to the love that has been her center. After five years, Roy's conviction is suddenly overturned, and he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together"--Provided by publisher.

Aria lives in Atlanta and teaches literacy to less-fortunate young girls. Her life takes a turn for the worse when she realizes--or thinks she realizes--she is pregnant. The truth is going to make her reevaluate everything she ever thought about her life.

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy, the living embodiment of the New South, are settling into the routine of their life together when Roy is sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit.

"Newlyweds Celestial and Roy, the living embodiment of the New South, are settling into the routine of their life together when Roy is sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. A ... look into the lives of people who are bound and separated by forces beyond their control"--Provided by publisher.

Twenty-five-year-old Aria Jackson feels she has finally overcome the rage and grief that tore her family apart after a car accident killed her father and sister when Aria was just nine years old, but when Aria learns she is expecting a child of her own, she finds the old pain and uncertainty threatening her happiness once again.

A story about a man's deception, a family's complicity, and two teenage girls caught in the middle. Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon's two families, the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich yet flawed characters, the father, the two mothers, the grandmother, and the uncle, she also reveals the joy, as well as the destruction, they brought to one another's lives. At the heart of it all are the two lives at stake, and like the best writers--think Toni Morrison with The Bluest Eye--Jones portrays the fragility of these young girls with raw authenticity as they seek love, demand attention, and try to imagine themselves as women, just not as their mothers.