When Stars Rain Down

Opal is an eighteen-year-old Black woman working as a housekeeper in a small Southern town in the 1930sand then the Klan descends. A moving story that confronts Americas tragic past, When Stars Rain Down is both heartwarming and heart-wrenching. The summer of 1936 in Parsons, Georgia, is unseasonably hot, and Opal Pruitt senses a nameless storm brewing. She hopes this foreboding feeling wont overshadow her upcoming 18th birthday or the annual Founders Day celebration in just a few weeks. She and her Grandma Birdie work as housekeepers for the white widow Miss Peggy, and Opal desperately wants some time to be young and carefree with her cousins and friends. But when the Ku Klux Klan descends on Opals neighborhood, the tight-knit community is shaken in every way possible. Parsonss residentsboth Black and whiteare forced to acknowledge the unspoken codes of conduct in their post-Reconstruction era town. To complicate matters, Opal finds herself torn between two unexpected romantic intereststhe son of her pastor, Cedric Perkins, and the white grandson of the woman she works for, Jimmy Earl Ketchums. Faced with love, loss, and a harsh awakening to an ugly world, Opal holds tight to her family and faithand the hope for change. When Stars Rain Down is so powerful, timely, and compelling . . . an important and beautifully written must-read of a novel. Silas House, author of Southernmost 2021 Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction Finalist Stand-alone novel Includes discussion questions for book clubs