All Her Little Secrets is a debut novel by Wanda M. Morris. It’s a gripping legal thriller that I saw recommended in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Ellice Littlejohn was born into poverty in rural Georgia, and she grew up with much abuse from multiple sources. However, she was a bright person who excelled academically, and she won scholarships to a boarding school and then college scholarships which led to her completing a degree from the Yale School of Law. Now working at a highly regarding and successful and large law firm in downtown Atlanta, she was the only black lawyer in the firm. However, the firm has gained the attention of racial activists and there are daily protests going outside her building. Meanwhile, she was involved in an affair with her boss, Michael, who happened to be married. She had never been interested in a long-term relationship which might lead to her own marriage.
But suddenly, she came to work early to continue her satisfying relationship with Michael only to find him in his office, dead, shot in the head in an apparent suicide. Ellice was immediately promoted to her boss’s job, a position she did not feel prepared to do. But, the pay raise was significant and she had always dreamt of being in a position of power with the firm. It was because of her own secrets from childhood that she chose not to immediately call the police, a decision she would come to regret. This murder mystery was told with themes poverty, white supremacy, misogyny, infidelity, secrecy, legal ethics, and family matters. Ellice discovered that her boss had probably been killed because he objected to some of the deals the firm was involved in and she suddenly was faced with an ethical dilemma she was not prepared to handle.
No comments:
Post a Comment