When Ebby Freeman travels to France to take a three-month hiatus from her complicated home life, the last person she expects to find is her ex-fiancé Henry, with his new girlfriend in tow.

Nearly twenty years earlier, the Freemans were the only African American family living in a wealthy coastal enclave in Connecticut when armed robbers invaded their home and tragedy changed their lives forever.

Then, just as Ebby thought she had a new chance at happiness, her storybook romance with Henry fell apart.

Now, this unexpected encounter with Henry will force Ebby to reckon with her past and to think on the other loss her family suffered that day – the destruction of a beloved stoneware jar crafted by an enslaved ancestor and passed down through the generations. A piece that might hold not only her family history, but also the key to reclaiming her future.

THE INSTANT NO. 2 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER **Featured on Barack Obama's Summer Reading List** **Soon to be a major Hulu series by Oprah Winfrey, Aaron Kaplan and Marissa Jo Cerar* **A Grazia Instagram 'IT' book to watch out for** Everyone wants to discover what they're made of . . . 'A story as meaningful as it is delicious' TAYLOR JENKINS REID 'A roiling soup of family secrets, big lies [and] great loves' NEW YORK TIMES 'Special, beautifully written. Rich and intoxicating' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 'My heart broke and was put back together. Bravo' NIKKI MAY, author of Wahala 'Brilliant writing. A stunning book' PRIMA, 'BOOK OF THE MONTH' ________ Eleanor Bennett won't let her secrets die with her . . . When Eleanor's estranged children Benny and Byron reunite for her funeral, they receive an unexpected inheritance. First, a traditional Caribbean black cake, to remind them of their roots. Second, the story of a decades-old murder that shatters everything they thought they knew about their mother. But as Benny and Byron unravel their family's troubled past, will the truth push them further apart? Or will it reunite them and fulfil Eleanor's final wish? ________ 'An extremely assured debut which pulls in threads and echoes from across the Caribbean diaspora to deliver a rich, complex and really satisfying novel' ALISON FINCH, BBC Radio 4 'I was instantly taken in by this multi-generational tale of identity, family, and the lifelong push and pull of home. This novel has a tremendous heart at its centre, and I felt its beat on every page. What an extraordinary debut' MARY BETH KEANE, author of Ask Again, Yes 'This emotional, heartfelt debut explores the meaning of home and the family that define it' SUNDAY EXPRESS