Sadeqa Johnson

1950s Philadelphia: fifteen-year-old Ruby Pearsall is on track to becoming the first in her family to attend college. But a taboo love affair threatens to pull her back down into the poverty and desperation that has been passed on to her like a birthright....

Sadeqa Johnson's And Then There Was Me is the story of love and friendship, heartache and betrayal. It’s the journey of a woman stripped down to her lowest point and needing to find the will to press on....

Called “wholly engrossing” by New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Grissom, this “fully immersive” story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia....

Philadelphia, 1948: Fifteen-year-old Ruby's dreams are almost within reach. She's going to be the first in her family to attend college, despite having a mother more interested in keeping a man than raising her only daughter....

In the tradition of Wrench and Twelve Years a Slave, this harrowing yet utterly unputdownable story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia....

This fierce collection from New York Times bestselling historical fiction authors sweeps readers back in time with exhilarating short stories of unforgettable female characters.

A single mother in segregated Virginia pushes back on societal prejudice and her own family’s judgment in an emotionally powerful short story by New York Times bestselling author Sadeqa Johnson.