A sweeping historical debut about friendship, race, coming of age, an impossible love story and a missing diamond set in 1950s Florida for fans of Demon Copperhead and Go as a River.

Growing up in the 1950s on the grounds of a former orange plantation, Hallie Bentley has learned to dodge snakes, alligators, and the unpredictable wrath of her alcoholic father. But protecting her brother Reb–mute, in love with another boy, and facing terrible consequences should his secret get out–is harder. To escape for good, they need a miracle, ideally in the form of the legendary diamond necklace rumoured to be buried along the lake’s shoreline.

When Zadie Reed, a gifted and ambitious Black teenager, is sent from Boston to spend the summer with family, she and Hallie form an unlikely alliance. In the Jim Crow south, Zadie and Hallie appear to have little in common: not skin colour, education, or even temperament; but a shared resolve to escape the rigid constraints of society bind them together. After they stumble across a decades-old mystery involving another improbable relationship, the girls vow to unearth the history of the plantation, and, hopefully, the diamond. Together, Hallie and Zadie excavate the marshes, cattails, and crumbling structures dotting their tiny lake. Neither expects to uncover the rot buried just beneath the surface, or the implications it could have on their futures.

© Jessica Scalise 2027 (P) Penguin Audio 2027