Donna Lawrence
For a mixed-race girl in 1967, acceptance amid life and death is hard-won.
Growing up with different-colored skin shouldn’t be difficult. So why is it that Lindsey always feels “other than?” These are the sentiments of mixed-race thirteen-year-old Lindsey Hollis, growing up in 1967 in small-town Kentucky, where intraracial racism proliferates and where a long-ago murder still haunts the town. Lindsey longs for acceptance, but because she looks white, she is plagued by bigotry from her small circle of black friends. Not long after Lindsey befriends two mysterious elderly ladies and their teacher friend, she learns that a psychopathic killer has returned to the town. Now, Lindsey and her friends are being stalked. With the specter of sinister premonitions and secrets that need to be kept, Lindsey must find a way to bridge the social and racial divides that separate them before the killer strikes again… and time is running out.
In Miss Virginia and the Sweet Sisters, we are immersed in the world of Kentucky bluegrass horse country, coming-of-age wonders, and the mysteries of life experienced by a young girl on the cusp of young adulthood. The backdrop of murder and the seedy side of small-town life heightens the suspense interwoven with the racial tension of late 1960s civil-rights era Kentucky. It gives an insightful look at female relationships, the resiliency of female strength, and reflections on racial relationships as they evolved in America’s not-so-distant past.