At First Light

1993: The Ku Klux Klan hold a rally provoking violence from an unexpected quarter which leaves authorities with an extraordinary dilemma: how do you handle a 98-year-old perpetrator who will not speak out except to admit her guilt?
1919: Exiled in disgrace from her family, mixed-race Alicia is shocked by the primitive conditions when she arrives in Key West. Unlike anywhere else in Florida, people just get along - whites, blacks, Cubans, Catholics and Jews. At the same time, the last troop ship from Europe arrives, full of wounded and traumatized soldiers. Among them is Daniel, who survived the war by shutting himself off from other people. But an unseen passenger is also arriving: the deadly Spanish flu. As the epidemic takes hold, the Klan sets up residence, extending their hatred to anyone not white and Protestant. On Christmas Eve, the situation ignites in the most deadly of ways.

Featured in the Deepest Winter 2017 Great Reads newsletter.
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