The Marrow of Tradition

Set against the backdrop of the 1898 Wilmington race riot, the narrative unfolds in the fictional town of Wellington, where the lives of two families, the Carterets and the Millers, intertwine. Major Philip Carteret, a staunch white supremacist, conspires to dismantle black leadership, igniting a violent upheaval. In contrast, Dr. William Miller, a black physician, returns to uplift his community by establishing a hospital. The personal struggles of Olivia, Carteret’s wife, reveal deep-seated racial tensions, as she grapples with her family's mixed heritage and hidden truths.