“There are so many funerals that the pews in churches have no time to cool.”
Perez opens her novel with the story of the 1937 New London school explosion—the worst school disaster in American history.
As Perez weaves her story alternating several points of view, nothing much seems to be happening, but the reader is unable to shake the ominous feeling that something equally dreadful is yet to occur. The ominous tone is subtle but pervasive—a testament to the power of Perez’s skill as a writer—rendering this a difficult read emotionally, but one not to be missed.
BLURB
“This is East Texas, and there’s lines. Lines you cross, lines you don’t cross. That clear?”
New London, Texas. 1937. Naomi Vargas and Wash Fuller know about the lines in East Texas as well as anyone. They know the signs that mark them. They know the people who enforce them. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive.
Ashley Hope Pérez takes the facts of the 1937 New London school explosion—the worst school disaster in American history—as a backdrop for a riveting novel about segregation, love, family, and the forces that destroy people.
DARLENE JONES 
It certainly sounds like a difficult read.