"This is a Borzoi book"--T.p. verso.

Lemaster Carlyle, the president of the country's most prestigious university, and his wife, Julia, the divinity school's deputy dean, are American's most prominent and powerful African American couple. Driving home through a swirling blizzard one night, the couple skids off the road. Near the site of their accident they discover a dead body. To her horror, Julia recognizes the body as a prominent academic and one of her former lovers. In the wake of the death, the icy veneer of their town, Elm Harbor, a place Julia calls "the heart of whiteness," begins to crack, having devastating consequences for a prominent local family and sending shock waves all the way to the White House.

Not AR rated