Book Description

Things are good in Baltimore, Maryland in 1938. A lot better for some than others, but thankfully the worst of the Depression is over for everyone. And since the rumblings of war in Europe are an ocean away, American democracy, equality, and ‘justice for all’ are safe and secure. And on Thanksgiving Day two very different people meet. Juliana Corbeau is a near perfect example of blue-blood upbringing. She’s a debutant, heiress, and lives in the city’s most prestigious neighborhood. Will Stahl isn’t anything at all like Juliana. He’s a working-class immigrant’s son and lives in a rowhouse. Yet he too is a near perfect example, that of a first-generation American. He’s a scholarship law student who’s idealistic, ambitious, and anxious to make a difference in the world. Neither of them knew it the night they met, but their differences in social class would be the least of their problems. Their unlikely love story begins when Juliana is assaulted, or so it seemed, and Will rescues her. That chance meeting puts them on a path that shouldn’t have led anywhere, but does, and eventually they must confront not only the class distinctions and prejudices which separate them, but also a tragic miscarriage of justice, danger for family trapped in Nazi Germany, and a fateful Supreme Court decision. When the war finally reaches America at Pearl Harbor everything changes again, forcing them to make impossible choices about love, family, justice—and ultimately their very lives.