Living through a time of racism, the separation from her mother, and a time when being “mulatto” could be the very thing that ends your life, Namie Serena Wilkes Montpelier has seen it all. Waking on the morning of her 105th birthday, she waits for the arrival of a young newspaper journalist who will feature the story of her life on the front page of the county paper. Sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch of her family homestead, it’s been years since she’s spoken of her life and the things she’s endured. But “Miss Namie” is hiding a secret that will shock the tight nit town of Raleigh, North Carolina, and today may be the perfect day to reveal it.
Anxious to arrive at her destination and get the interview over, newspaper journalist Anna Fuller is merely filling in for a co-worker today. Pulling into the driveway of the centuries old Victorian home, Anna’s thoughts are only on the plans she has to end her unhappy life by nightfall. When these two strangers meet, they are both unaware of what secrets the other one holds. As their lives cross paths, it will lead them both into a day they will never forget and embark on a journey that spans over one hundred years.
“WHERE THE WILLOW OAK GROWS” is a book with heart and soul. It uniquely weaves together the past and the present as it tells the story of two women from different generations and the exceptional journey their lives have followed. It allows the reader to see the ordinary in a new way and keeps you thinking, feeling, laughing and crying. It has a strong, fresh literary voice and commercial conception. A surprise twist will lead the book into a new and exciting direction.
