After receiving a garbled letter from her recently married cousin and dear friend Catalina, she travels to the distant village of High Place and the decaying mansion that is now Catalina’s home. Noemí Taboada is a socialite who delights in parties, fancy dresses, seducing men, and anthropology. I listened to this intriguing and horrific contemporary ghost story on audio, narrated by Kara Young. Mira doesn't expect to see any ghosts at the plantation, but soon the ghosts of the enslaved begin to haunt her every move, eager to tell their story on the anniversary of a slave revolt that took place there. Kipsen and Mira had a run-in with a ghost at the plantation when they were kids, leading to Kipsen's arrest and the estrangement of all three friends. Mira is looking forward to seeing Kipsen again, the only other Black person invited to the wedding. Mira, a Black teacher, returns to her hometown to attend her white childhood friend's wedding, despite her misgivings about the wedding taking place at not only a plantation but a plantation where one of her ancestors was enslaved.

When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen This is a thought-provoking, character-driven ghost story that kept me up reading late into the night. Meanwhile, Andrew is forced to look closer at what his relationship with Eddie really entailed and his own gay masculinity. With Eddie’s ghost haunting him upon his arrival, he becomes even more certain that something more sinister is going on. He doesn’t believe for a second that Eddie committed suicide, so Andrew travels to Nashville and joins Vanderbilt’s program to get to the bottom of what happened to Eddie. When Eddie dies by what appears to be suicide shortly after, Andrew is bereft and raging against the all-encompassing grief that strangles him. English program and insisted Andrew wait to join him. After a childhood tragedy that left them seeing ghosts, Andrew and Eddie became inseparable until Eddie left Andrew to join Vanderbilt’s Ph.D.

This haunting, contemporary Southern gothic grapples with toxic masculinity and grief among academics.

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