★ 2022-12-14
Two sisters find danger when they try to run from their secrets in the civil rights–era South.
Violet Richards is in trouble. As a young Black woman in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1964, she knows she’s courting danger by dating a White man, a rich man’s son she doesn’t really love. Then another White man rapes her. The police don’t care. When the rapist threatens her again, she kills him and goes on the run, unknowingly taking something of her boyfriend’s that turns out to be a powder keg. Violet’s younger sister, Marigold, also has a boyfriend she doesn’t love, and a secret lover as well. The lover abandons her when she tells him she’s pregnant, just about the time police come to the family home looking for Violet. Marigold sees little reason to stay in Jackson—the oldest Richards sister, Rose, died years before in an accident, and both of their parents have died recently. So Marigold gives in to her boyfriend’s marriage proposal and plan to move to Cleveland. Neither sister’s escape goes as expected, especially after Violet’s abandoned beau hires a man named Mercer Buggs to find her. Buggs is an inept detective, but he manages to put both Violet and Marigold in mortal danger. As their stories converge in the small town of Chillicothe, Georgia, Morris builds the tension, alternating the narrative among Violet, Marigold, and Buggs. She deftly ties the sisters’ situation to a real-life tragedy of the civil rights movement—the murders of Freedom Summer volunteers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner—and to the inherent violence of the racism behind it. Despite a somewhat rushed ending, this thriller offers complex characters and a well-crafted portrait of time and place.
Tense plotting and an authentic historical setting enhance a thriller about racial violence.
"The immensely talented Wanda M. Morris delivers an unflinching exploration of the pain and injustice of the Jim Crow South, a moving tale of sisterly devotion, and a riveting thriller all in one stellar novel. Morris writes with deep empathy and keen insight about the choices we make when we’re out of choices, and how when we dig deep we find a strength and resilience we didn’t know was there. Wise, riveting, and full of surprises, Anywhere You Run will keep you up past your bedtime and stay with you long after the book is closed.” — Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six
"From page one, you are completely gripped, you are in these two protagonists' head. Wonderful read, I read it in one reading." — Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on The TODAY Show
"A stunning thriller and a stunning work of historical fiction. Anywhere You Run is riveting, touching and terrifying. Wanda M. Morris is a ferociously talented writer." — Gilly Macmillan, New York Times bestselling author of The Long Weekend
"The suspense will set your heart thumping, the story will break it. A compelling thriller with powerful historical detail." — J.D. Barker, New York Times bestselling author of A Caller's Game
"Anywhere You Run had me hooked from the first page. Wanda Morris brings 1964 to vivid, richly-textured life and populates it with unforgettable characters. It’s a novel both tender and ferocious – an absolute stunner." — Lou Berney, Edgar Award-winning author of November Road
"Evocative, heartbreaking, and utterly life-changing. With the ground-breaking Anywhere You Run, Wanda Morris blooms into literary fiction, bringing readers a chillingly knowing and brilliantly upsetting novel of the 60s. With no holds barred and no emotion unplumbed, the talented Morris writes a tale of two sisters that's unflinchingly raw and passionately authentic. We cannot turn away from the story, or from the immersive settings, or from Morris's skilled depiction of tragedy, triumph, and the struggle to love and survive." — Hank Phillippi Ryan, USA Today bestselling author
"So powerful! Though she's writing about the past, Wanda Morris tells a story that feels incredibly relevant today. With its menacing characters and emotionally wrenching situations, Anywhere You Run made me hold my breath for two wonderfully well-drawn heroines." — Rachel Howzell Hall, bestselling author of These Toxic Things
“Anywhere You Run is a gripping crime novel centered around a cat-and-mouse chase featuring characters I came to love. It’s also a riveting, moving, and deeply American story about the strength of sisters and the power of redemption. I couldn’t put this one down." — Jess Lourey, bestselling author of The Quarry Girls
"A propulsive and immersive journey among the treacherous landscape of America in the early 1960s told through the eyes of black women. With unflinching prose, Wanda M. Morris weaves a story of love, loss, and unimaginable strength." — Catherine Adel West, author of The Two Lives of Sara and Saving Ruby King
"Two novels into her career, Wanda M. Morris has established herself among the biggest risk-takers in the crime genre." — New York Times
"As the sisters try to outrun their pasts, the fast-paced narrative makes for heart-in-your-throat reading; the reasons they must flee feel, unfortunately, all too current." — Washington Post
"From the acclaimed author of All Her Little Secrets comes a novel packed with intrigue and suspense." — Oprah Daily
"A southern setting where voting and abortion are both increasingly restricted feels…rather like today, if I’m honest. Wanda Morris, too, has noted the parallels, and there is a sense of political urgency that helps speed this thriller along." — CrimeReads
"Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris is the rare heart-pounding thriller that’s also deeply moving." — Real Simple
"Heart-pounding..." — Popsugar
"The sisters’ resiliency and loyalty to one another makes this suspenseful piece of historical fiction worthwhile." — Buzzfeed
"Powerful and poignant..." — BookBub
"Meticulous research about the era informs the gripping plot, which alternates between each sister’s point of view. Finely sculpted characters and crisp dialogue help make this a standout. Morris is a writer to watch. " — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Beautifully rendered prose written in the vernacular of a small Mississippi town will immerse readers in the lives of two sisters trying to survive. In this viscerally frightening novel of the Jim Crow era, Morris writes a stunning, heartbreaking portrayal of being Black in the 1960s U.S. South." — Library Journal (starred review)
“Morris follows the highly acclaimed All Her Little Secrets (2021) with a stunning novel about two Black sisters on the run, one victimized by an egregious crime and both guilty of simply wanting better lives for themselves…These parallel stories of hiding and pursuit, which lead to an amazing conclusion, are told in the different but equally compelling voices of Violet and Marigold, each filled with its own fear and pain. This riveting and moving novel, with echoes of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is highly recommended for fans of suspense and women’s fiction.” — Booklist (starred review)
"The world of the Jim Crow South comes to life with chilling clarity in Morris’ well-researched novel.... Eventually, Violet, Marigold and Mercer’s paths converge as Anywhere You Run reaches its heartbreaking and unexpected climax." — Bookreporter.com
