In this new novel, Oscar-winning writer William Kelley tells the true story of a young, southern, female quadroon who overcame the racial prejudice of the pre-civil war era to create a religious order dedicated to caring for destitute and dying blacks. Yearning to help the poorest of the poor in New Orleans, Henriette Delille tried to join charitable religious orders, but was turned away because of her “Negro blood.” Taking fate into her own hands she cofounded The Sisters of the Holy Family, an order that for over a century has led the fight to improving living conditions for African Americans in the southern United States. Henriette’s astonishing and inspirational story, told through a masterful interweaving of the narratives of her personal life and Father Etienne Rousselon’s, is a testimony to one woman’s devotion and her resulting ability to change the world around her.