American Ghost: A Novel - Softcover

"A taut yarn about breaking silence."
--Good Housekeeping

"The past haunts the present in this engaging... offering inspired by actual events."
--Booklist

"A skillfully written, well-researched book...Owens brings a dark period of history to light in a book about Southern Allegiances, racial tensions and shameful acts."
--Kirkus

Owens' voice [is] so authentic and her characters [are] so alive. Their motivations, reactions and dialogue feel so true, they could-almost be real."
--Paste

"Part-thriller, part romance, and based on an actual event in the author's hometown, this wrenching novel is a fine example of southern storytelling."--People Magazine

"Owens brings the vibrancy of a small Southern community to bear on a gothic tale."--The New York Times

"Owens weaves complex narrative strands together in a captivating story abundant with historical context and characterizations that reflect the foibles of human nature."--Shelf Awareness

"Owens' detailed and well-researched portrait of west Florida bloodlines benefits from her obvious affection for its cast of colorful characters, and her descriptions of small-town life are a joy to read."--Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"A taut literary thriller, as well as a wrenching meditation on the consequences of denying a dangerous past."--Texas Observer

"This compelling novel begins as a love story...but it turns into a thrilling, multilayered mystery and a fearless look at the tragic delusions of American racism."--San Antonio Express

Jolie Hoyt is a good Southern girl living in Hendrix, a small Florida Panhandle town. All too aware of her family’s closet full of secrets and long-held distrust of outsiders, Jolie throws caution to the wind when she meets Sam Lense, a Jewish anthropology student from Miami, who is in town to study the ethnic makeup of the region.

Jolie and Sam fall recklessly in love, but their affair ends abruptly when Sam is discovered to have pried too deeply into Hendrix’s dark racial history and he becomes the latest victim in a long tradition of small-town violence. Twelve years later, Jolie and Sam are forced to revisit the unresolved issues of their young love and finally shed light on the ugly history of Jolie’s hometown. A complex and compulsively readable Southern saga,American Ghost is a richly woven exploration of how the events of our past haunt our present.