Julia Johnson

Tragedy flips Amore Brown’s world on its axis right before she heads off to college. Having to sit tight for the summer, she chooses Jersey City, New Jersey - the home of her estranged father - to pass the time. Here, in urban grit, a stark contrast to the comforts of suburbia, she reconnects with a long-lost cousin for some final months of summer excursions, enrooting, and evolving. But it could never be that simple, even if it were all so simple then.

Tangleroot was built by one of Noni’s ancestors, an enslaved man named Cuffee Fortune—who Dr. Castine believes was also the original founder of Stonepost College, and that the school was originally formed for Black students. Dr. Castine spends much of her time trying to piece together enough undeniable truth in order to change the name of the school in Cuffee’s honor—and to force the university to reckon with its own racist past.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Amerie Cross and Arnold Hightower.