Anywhere You Run
A Novel
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4.5 • 64 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
As Seen on The TODAY Show!
Called One of the Best Crime Novels of the Year by New York Times * NPR * New York Post * Washington Post * Buzzfeed * South Florida Sun-Sentinel * Library Journal * CrimeReads
From the award-winning author of All Her Little Secrets comes yet another gripping, suspenseful novel where, after the murder of a white man in Jim Crow Mississippi, two Black sisters run away to different parts of the country . . . but can they escape the secrets they left behind?
It’s the summer of 1964 and three innocent men are brutally murdered for trying to help Black Mississippians secure the right to vote. Against this backdrop, twenty-one year old Violet Richards finds herself in more trouble than she’s ever been in her life. Suffering a brutal attack of her own, she kills the man responsible. But with the color of Violet’s skin, there is no way she can escape Jim Crow justice in Jackson, Mississippi. Before anyone can find the body or finger her as the killer, she decides to run. With the help of her white beau, Violet escapes. But desperation and fear leads her to hide out in the small rural town of Chillicothe, Georgia, unaware that danger may be closer than she thinks.
Back in Jackson, Marigold, Violet’s older sister, has dreams of attending law school. Working for the Mississippi Summer Project, she has been trying to use her smarts to further the cause of the Black vote. But Marigold is in a different kind of trouble: she’s pregnant and unmarried. After news of the murder brings the police to her door, Marigold sees no choice but to flee Jackson too. She heads North seeking the promise of a better life and no more segregation. But has she made a terrible choice that threatens her life and that of her unborn child?
Two sisters on the run—one from the law, the other from social shame. What they don’t realize is that there’s a man hot on their trail. This man has his own brand of dark secrets and a disturbing motive for finding the sisters that is unknown to everyone but him . . .
“Anywhere You Run had me hooked from the first page... It’s a novel both tender and ferocious—an absolute stunner.” —Lou Berney, Edgar Award–winning author of November Road
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The notorious 1964 murder of three civil rights activists in Mississippi provides the backdrop for Morris's stunning sophomore novel (after 2021's All Her Little Secrets), which revolves around two Black sisters' relationship while exploring racism, family, and small-town sensibilities. The quiet life of Violet Richards and her older sister, Marigold, ends when Violet kills the white man who raped her. Knowing that as a Black woman in the Jim Crow South she won't be treated fairly, Violet sneaks out of Jackson, Miss., with her wealthy white boyfriend before abandoning him in Alabama to catch a Greyhound bus that takes her to Chillicothe, Ga. Meanwhile, Marigold, who dreams of becoming a lawyer, works for the Mississippi Summer Project to help Blacks register to vote. She ends up in Ohio after quickly marrying her dim-witted boyfriend, having become pregnant by another man. The suspense ramps up as powerful forces target each sister because she unwittingly possesses damaging evidence. Meticulous research about the era informs the gripping plot, which alternates between each sister's point of view. Finely sculpted characters and crisp dialogue help make this a standout. Morris is a writer to watch.
Customer Reviews
What Remains
Wanda Morris’s sophomore effort is even better than her first for me. It was gripping from the first word and hard to put down. Morris has leaned into her narrative style and used it to tell another female led murder mystery that is also TV ready material. This time she winds the clock back showcasing her range and bringing fresh stories to a time others are trying to suppress.
Morris uses this civil rights era setting to deliver a page by page adjudication of the violence and injustice of Jim Crow America. The senselessness of it all and the longing for justice that never comes. The story covers extrajudicial killings, internal strifes, inequities, and so much more. She uses all of these themes to show how they strangle hopes and dreams and drive up the body count in the process.
Morris’s characters each struggle to define and hold onto identity. In the midst of their interwoven and personal struggles we see how so much of who we are is defined by others. Morris also shows how the identity we seek and those hoisted upon us, are woven together by memories and perceptions. A great and quick read that has me looking forward to what Wanda Morris has in store for us next.