Kathleen M. Rodgers Livres

Would Johnnie's life be different if she'd been named after a woman instead of her dead uncle? Or if her mama hadn't been so beautiful or flighty? The grandparents who raised her were loving, but they didn't understand the turmoil roiling within her. And they had so many, many secrets. Now Johnnie has a loving family of her own... but also her own secrets.

After Johnnie and her black friend are attacked by a boy inflamed by a liberal bumper sticker, Johnnie recounts the incident in her column, prompting a reader to reach out with stories from Portion's untold history of racial strife. Though Johnnie fears for her son in Afghanistan, she learns the power of forgiveness at home.