{"product_id":"dead-letters-from-paradise-9781612942353","title":"Dead Letters from Paradise","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTwo-time Lambda Literary Award-winning author Ann McMan introduces readers to a spinster postal investigator for the Winston-Salem Dead Letter Office who finds herself enmeshed in the mystery of solving who is sending undeliverable love letters to the town's 18th-century \u003ci\u003ehortus medicus\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe year is 1960, and \u003ci\u003eGunsmoke\u003c\/i\u003e is the most popular show on TV. Elvis Presley tops the Billboard charts, and a charismatic young senator named John F. Kennedy is running for president. And, in North Carolina, four young Black men sit down at a Woolworth's lunch counter and demand service. Enter Esther Jane (EJ) Cloud, a forty-something spinster who manages the Dead Letter Office at the Winston-Salem post office. EJ leads a quiet life in her Old Salem ancestral home and spends her free time volunteering in the town's 18th century medicinal garden.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOne sunny Spring morning, EJ's simple life is turned upside down when the town's master gardener unceremoniously hands her a stack of handwritten letters that have all been addressed to a nonexistent person at the garden. This simple act sets in motion a chain of events that will lead EJ on a life-altering quest to uncover the identity of the mysterious letter writer--and into a surprising head-on confrontation with the harsh realities of the racial injustice that is as deeply rooted in the life of her community as the ancient herbs cultivated in the Moravian garden.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWhen EJ is forced to read the letters to look for clues about the anonymous sender, what she discovers are lyrical tales of a forbidden passion that threaten to unravel the simple contours of her unexamined life. EJ's official quest soon morphs into a journey of self-discovery as she becomes more deeply enmeshed in the fate of the mysterious letter writer, Dorothea. Her surprising accomplice in solving the mystery of the letters becomes one, Harrie Hart: a savvy, street smart ten-year-old, wielding an eye patch and a limitless supply of aphorisms. Together, Harrie and EJ make seminal pilgrimages to the tiny town of Paradise to try and uncover the identity of the mercurial sender and, ultimately, learn a better way to navigate the changing world around them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bywater Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/28\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781612942353\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 265","brand":"Ann McMan","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42095595716789,"sku":"9781612942353","price":16.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_b9bebd96-c93f-470c-a2c8-8c112fc49ddb.jpg?v=1651587932","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/dead-letters-from-paradise-9781612942353","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}