Folly Park: A Novel

(Paperback)

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Fans of Surviving Savannahby Patti Callahan,The Book of Lost Friendsby Lisa Wingate, andAlmost Sistersby Joshilyn Jackson will enjoyFolly Park.

Are we ever able to escape the past Should we be allowed to

Though deeply ashamed of her slaveholding heritage, Temple Prestons sense of duty and bittersweet memories tie her to Folly Park, her familys crumbling ancestral plantation in Virginia. Now a cash-strapped tourist attraction, Folly Park was once the home of Confederate General Thomas Temple Smith, a southern war hero who died under mysterious circumstances. Temple is pursuing a plan to secure the house museums future when her summer research assistant, a Black PhD student, uncovers a remarkable secret: the generals wife gave birth to a biracial baby while he was away fighting in the Civil War. This discovery turns Temples quiet, insulated life upside down, andalong with further revelations about the past that come to light in the ensuing weeksfuels the growing tension in her hometown as a Black activist and Temples own race-baiting brother square off in a local campaign for mayor. Faced with threats and betrayal, Temple discovers who she really isand how much shes willing to lose to tell the truth.

Reviews

Hackfords writing is crisp and poignant. . . . she artfully conveys a compelling drama . . . The result is a powerful novel, as affecting as it is provocative.
Kirkus Reviews

A young womans quest to save her Virginia family's historic house from developers collides with her determination to bring its secrets out into the open. Folly Parkis a timely tale of racial reckoning, the need to face uncomfortable truths about the past, and the barriers we erectand tear down.
Susan Higginbotham, author of John Brown's Women

Temple Prestons beloved ancestral plantation harbors evil secrets. When faced with the sins of its past, will she set the story straightat any costFolly Parkspins a haunting tale of a struggle for integrity in the face of familial corruption. Timely, engaging, and evocative.
Adele Holmes, author of Winters Reckoning

At what cost, truth When Temple Preston discovers an old family photograph lodged in the ceiling of the decaying ancestral Virginia plantation where she works as the curator, she is forced to confront long-held family secrets. With the help of a Black research assistant, Temple makes explosive discoveries that challenge family honor, loyalty, and trust. A five-star debut!
Ashley E. Sweeney, author of Answer Creek

Are we ever able to escape our past Should we be allowed to At once a work of superbly accurate historical fiction and a commentary on todays clash over the place of historic monuments and rhetoric surrounding race and slavery,Folly Parkis a gripping good read.
L. Diane Barnes, historian and associate editor of the Frederick Douglass Papers

In this fast-paced and suspenseful novel, a daughter of the white southern aristocracy veers between accountability and nostalgia as she struggles to become an agent of social change. Especially vivid is Temples developing alliance with Vee, a Black researcher whose findings threaten to unseat Temples idols and to place both young women on surprising common ground.
Wendy Sanford, author of These Walls Between Us: A Memoir of Friendship Across Race and Class

Author Bio

Heidi Hackford has a PhD in American history and finds inspiration in her career at history museums, including Monticello, where she worked on the papers of Thomas Jefferson. She is fascinated by the unexpected twists and turns of the past and loves to incorporate them in her fiction. Her Puritan murder mysteryOn a Stony Place is available on Amazon Kindle and she blogs about how history turns up in everyday life in her newsletter Living With History, which lives at https://heidihackford.substack.com. Heidi lives in Half Moon Bay, California, with her husband, a fellow historian, and a very old cat.