A tour de force from three-time National Book Award finalist Rita Williams-Garcia, this story of an antebellum plantation—and the enduring legacies of slavery upon every person who lives there—is essential reading for both teens and adults grappling with the long history of American racism. With six starred reviews so far, the book is now in paperback!

Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award!

7 starred reviews! "Monumental." —Booklist (starred review) * "A marathon masterpiece."—Kirkus (starred review) * "Necessary."—SLJ (starred review) * "Shocking and dramatic."—Shelf Awareness (starred review) * "Mesmerizing, confounding and vividly rendered."—Book Page (starred review) * "Williams-Garcia’s storytelling is magnificent; her voice honest and authentic."—Horn Book (starred review)

This astonishing novel from three-time National Book Award finalist Rita Williams-Garcia about the interwoven lives of those bound to a plantation in antebellum America is an epic masterwork—empathetic, brutal, and entirely human—and essential reading for both teens and adults grappling with the long history of American racism.

1860, Louisiana. After serving as mistress of Le Petit Cottage for more than six decades, Madame Sylvie Guilbert has decided, in spite of her family’s objections, to sit for a portrait.

While Madame plots her last hurrah, stories that span generations—from the big house to out in the fields—of routine horrors, secrets buried as deep as the family fortune, and the tangled bonds of descendants and enslaved, come to light to reveal a true portrait of the Guilberts.

Rita Williams-Garcia is one of the preeminent authors of our time. She has been honored with the Children's Literature Lecture Award from the American Library Association.

What truths will be unearthed when the matriarch of a Louisiana plantation demands her portrait be painted?

Antebellum Louisiana: Step into the brutal, tangled world of Le Petit Cottage in 1860, where the lives of a powerful Creole family and the people they enslave are inextricably bound.Deeply Buried Secrets: As Madame Sylvie Guilbert sits for her portrait, stories spanning decades of routine horrors, family fortunes, and shocking truths built on slavery come to light.Award-Winning Historical Fiction: From a three-time National Book Award finalist, this epic and unflinching look at America’s past is praised as “monumental” and “necessary” reading.Powerful YA Crossover: An essential and masterfully told story for both teens and adults confronting the complex history of American racism and its enduring legacy.