Book summary

After murdering Jim Beverly, a date-rapist quarterback, Arlene Fleet flees to Chicago, promising God to abstain from sex, lies, and the South if he keeps her secret safe. After nine vice-free years, a visitor appears in Arlene's life, asking questions about Jim, and Arlene has to break her promises and travel back to Alabama with her black boyfriend in tow. Joshilyn Jackson writes with sassy intelligence, and provides much-appreciated insight on the peculiar workings of 21st-century Dixie.

Media reviews

"[A] frank, appealing debut....The novel concludes with a final, dramatic disclosure, though the payoff isn't the plot twist but rather Jackson's genuine affection for the people and places of Dixie."