I absolutely loved the idea of New Jessup, and the tension between the old guard enjoying their relatively low-stress life free of in-your-face racism compared to the new school wanting official municipality status was well developed. Also, my heart ached for Alice being unable to gain resolution about her family. The book was superbly written. Like absolutely beautiful prose. My issue was that it was somewhat light on dialogue and slightly boring. When conflict built, it was short-lived and not engaging for me. However, I will definitely check out more from the author, because as I stated, the writing was beyond delightful.