Faith’s Reckoning

At the end of life, the greatest regret is the action not taken. When she was fourteen years old, Faith Wiggins was confronted with a dilemma, pitting family loyalty against a call for justice. She could keep her father’s secret or speak up for her beloved Delsey, a sharecropper’s daughter who worked for him. Feeling afraid, powerless, Faith chose silence. Now, sixty years later, Faith has made peace with the conflicted allegiances of her youth. But she has a last piece of unfinished business that must be tended. She calls her niece, Sylvia Barbarino, to come to Mississippi for a visit.

Sylvia will do anything for her favorite aunt, including the sad task of serving as the executor of her Will. What Sylvia does not yet realize is that Faith is asking her to do more than administer her estate. Faith needs Sylvia’s help as she attempts to make reparations for her father’s actions. Sylvia must reckon justice for what happened to Delsey’s husband, Plessy Walker. And she must face the seeds of racism within herself that shaped the most consequential decision of her life, a secret she has buried for twenty-five years. As Sylvia begins her journey from Austin, Texas to Florence, Mississippi, the past comes alive.