Latest Books The Big Thrill Recommends: WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND by Wanda M. Morris

The Big Thrill Recommends: WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND by Wanda M. Morris

Recommended by K.L. Romo

Award-winning author Wanda M. Morris is adept at guiding readers through the American Black experience, and her newest thriller, WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND, is no exception.

What if a corporation used a legal maneuver to buy land that should never have been for sale? What if your family had lived on the property for generations, but you didn’t have the piece of paper entitling you to keep it? What if you didn’t have a will and the ownership of your property was divided between your heirs, and one wants to sell? These are the steps taken to rob an entire community of the property they’ve held dear since the Civil War.

At 39, Deena Wood is embarrassed by her life. Her marriage ended, her mother died, her high-powered Atlanta law firm fired her, and now she’s moving back to her childhood home in Brunswick, Georgia. Can things get any worse?

Yes. Yes, they can. And they do.

Deena soon finds herself in the middle of a creepy disappearance. One day, Holcomb Gardner protects his land with a shotgun, and then, he just disappears. When Empire Realty puts his land on the market, Deena knows that something is very, very wrong.

As she investigates, Deena discovers that, because of a legal loophole, people in the area are losing their generational land. If the property owner dies without a will, an heir can sell their portion of the property through an heir’s property sale. If the other descendants can’t buy back the land, they lose it. Deena learns that corporate greed and unethical practices can devastate generational legacies and erase entire communities—unless someone stops them.

Morris engages readers with the investigation while educating us about the many devastating effects of systemic racism. She highlights the struggles of Black Americans to keep their legacies intact while combatting the dark shadow of white privilege. As always, I can’t wait for her next book.

The Big Thrill Recommends: WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND by Wanda M. Morris