Folly Park

Though deeply ashamed of her slaveholding heritage, Temple Preston's sense of duty and bittersweet memories tie her to Folly Park, her family's crumbling ancestral plantation in Virginia. Now a cash-strapped tourist attraction, Folly Park was once the home of Confederate General Thomas Temple Smith, a southern war hero who died under mysterious circumstances. Temple is pursuing a plan to secure the house museum's future when her summer research assistant, a Black PhD student, uncovers a remarkable secret: the general's wife gave birth to a biracial baby while he was away fighting in the Civil War. This discovery turns Temple's quiet, insulated life upside down, and-along with further revelations about the past that come to light in the ensuing weeks-fuels the growing tension in her hometown as a Black activist and Temple's own race-baiting brother square off in a local campaign for mayor. Faced with threats and betrayal, Temple discovers who she really is-and how much she's willing to lose to tell the truth--