A talented team of narrators transports listeners to Mississippi, 1964, a world of segregation, violence, and the fight to secure Black people the right to vote. Sisters Violet and Marigold Richards, portrayed by Janina Edwards and Shayna Small, are both fleeing north—Violet from a possible murder charge and Marigold from an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. What both want is a better life away from the unrest, racism, and personal loss they experienced in their hometown. Edwards and Small create authentic characters with equal parts passion and desperation. Adam Lazarre-White voices Mercer Buggs, who is hired to find Violet. Part family drama, part mystery, this audiobook reminds listeners what has changed since the 1960s and how much work is still left to be done. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

★ 08/29/2022

The notorious 1964 murder of three civil rights activists in Mississippi provides the backdrop for Morris’s stunning sophomore novel (after 2021’s All Her Little Secrets), which revolves around two Black sisters’ relationship while exploring racism, family, and small-town sensibilities. The quiet life of Violet Richards and her older sister, Marigold, ends when Violet kills the white man who raped her. Knowing that as a Black woman in the Jim Crow South she won’t be treated fairly, Violet sneaks out of Jackson, Miss., with her wealthy white boyfriend before abandoning him in Alabama to catch a Greyhound bus that takes her to Chillicothe, Ga. Meanwhile, Marigold, who dreams of becoming a lawyer, works for the Mississippi Summer Project to help Blacks register to vote. She ends up in Ohio after quickly marrying her dim-witted boyfriend, having become pregnant by another man. The suspense ramps up as powerful forces target each sister because she unwittingly possesses damaging evidence. 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. Agent: Lori Galvin, Aevitas Creative Management. (Oct.)

"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

Wanda M. Morris is ready to shake up the legal thriller as only one who knows that world inside out can.” 

"The flashy, busy, unlikely plot is elevated by Morris' urgent portrayal of a Black woman trying to navigate a world stacked against her, and the moving flashbacks to her childhood."

Ellice Littlejohn discovers at the start of this tense and propulsive thriller that the boss with whom she was having an affair has been murdered, setting the tone for a page-turning tale dripping with suspense and intrigue.” 

"It's hard to know just how far you might go to protect yourself and your secrets... but it's remarkably easy to get swept up into this razor-sharp workplace thriller. At times deeply disturbing and all the while gripping, All Her Little Secrets is a refreshing whodunnit that will keep you guessing—and second-guessing—from start to finish."

Wanda M. Morris hits all the right notes in All Her Little Secrets, a taut, sleek thriller that’s also a searing story about the secrets we can never manage to leave behind. A stunning debut.

All Her Little Secrets is a brilliantly nuanced but powerhouse exploration of race, the legal system, and the crushing pressure of keeping secrets. Morris brings a vibrant and welcome new voice to the thriller space.

An eye-opening look at what it is to fight all the -isms of being Black and female in America. Ellice is a compelling and multidimensional hero in this must-have debut that will be embraced by all legal-thriller readers.

Wanda M. Morris is ready to shake up the legal thriller as only one who knows that world inside out can.” 

"The flashy, busy, unlikely plot is elevated by Morris' urgent portrayal of a Black woman trying to navigate a world stacked against her, and the moving flashbacks to her childhood."

★ 09/01/2022

Morris's (All Her Little Secrets) second novel is a historical thriller set in Jim Crow Mississippi. Sisters violet and Marigold are the only surviving members of the Richards family. Twenty-two-year-old Violet has always been unconventional, doing what she wants when she wants; she knows she was a disappointment to her parents. Her older sister Marigold has long been the "good girl"—good grades in school, no sex before marriage, adhering to their mama's admonishment to "become invisible" around white people. Marigold now works for the Mississippi Summer Project, dedicated to ensuring that Black people are allowed to vote after passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. When Violet kills a white man in self-defense, she flees Jackson, leaving Marigold behind. What she doesn't realize is that Marigold is pregnant, and the father left her to fend for herself. As Jackson police investigate the murder of the man who assaulted Violet, Marigold realizes she must leave Mississippi too. But moving north creates another set of problems. Beautifully rendered prose written in the vernacular of a small Mississippi town will immerse readers in the lives of two sisters trying to survive. VERDICT 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.—K.L. Romo

A talented team of narrators transports listeners to Mississippi, 1964, a world of segregation, violence, and the fight to secure Black people the right to vote. Sisters Violet and Marigold Richards, portrayed by Janina Edwards and Shayna Small, are both fleeing north—Violet from a possible murder charge and Marigold from an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. What both want is a better life away from the unrest, racism, and personal loss they experienced in their hometown. Edwards and Small create authentic characters with equal parts passion and desperation. Adam Lazarre-White voices Mercer Buggs, who is hired to find Violet. Part family drama, part mystery, this audiobook reminds listeners what has changed since the 1960s and how much work is still left to be done. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

★ 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.