How do these two stories intersect? That is part of the fun of reading this novel, which vividly portrays a pivotal time in U.S. Ellie doesn’t give up-but when she develops a close friendship with Win, a Black volunteer, even the very hint of an interracial relationship endangers not just the cause, but their lives.
Ellie’s commitment to helping Black North Carolinians fight for their rights ostracizes her from her family and friends, while her fellow volunteers, northern Whites and southern Blacks, are suspicious that a southern White woman is capable of doing the hard, often thankless work of organizing. Kayla’s story alternates with that of Ellie Hockley, a college student who decides to spend the summer working for the SCOPE Project, a civil rights campaign to register Black voters. A mysterious woman in disguise shows up at her office to threaten her, and Kayla learns that the property has an eerie and tragic history, including the death of a young girl many years before. However, living in the house at the end of the street turns out to be more than she bargained for when strange things start happening. Kayla opts to go ahead with the move anyway. Kayla Carter and her husband Jackson, both architects, designed and built their dream house in a brand-new development-but before they could move in with their young daughter, Jackson was killed in an accident. Also like Big Lies, Last House takes place in North Carolina, Chamberlain’s home state. Like Big Lies, the new novel alternates between past and present, giving us a look at how events decades ago continue to impact people’s lives. Diane Chamberlain’s Big Lies in a Small Town was one of my very favorite books of 2020, so I had high hopes for The Last House on the Street-and I was not disappointed.
0 kommentar(er)
