Gripping and moving, She Wears the Mask is a novel about two women from two very different worlds, both burdened with secrets from their pasts, who form an unexpected bond...
1950s Chicago:
Angelique Bixby could be one of many fresh-faced sales girls working along the Magnificent Mile, but she's unique. She's a white woman married to a black man in 1950s Chicago, making her stand out among the tenements on the South Side where she lives. Despite the challenges the couple faces, they find comfort and strength in their love for one another. Angelique is content, as long as she has her Daniel by her side and their baby in her arms, until she loses them both—one to death and the other to dire circumstances.
1990s Washington, D.C.:
Angelique Crofton is a woman of privilege. A rich, aging beauty and mother of a rising political star, she has learned to forget her tragic past. But now that she is facing her own mortality, she is finally ready to find the daughter she left behind, remember the young woman she once was, and unearth the bittersweet memories she had long ago buried.
Jasmine Stanley is an ambitious lawyer—the only black woman at her firm. She is too busy climbing the corporate ladder to deal with her troublesome family or their unresolved issues. Tasked with Angelique's case, Jasmine doesn't know what to make of her new client—an old debutante with seemingly too much time and money on her hands. Jasmine eagerly accepts the challenge though, hoping if she finds Angelique's long-lost daughter, it will impress the firm's partners. But she doesn't count on the search challenging her mentally and emotionally. Nor does she expect to form a friendship with Angelique, who is much more like her than she realizes—because Jasmine is harboring secrets, too.
Praise for Shelly Stratton:
"Between Lost and Found is moving, thoughtful, and entirely original. The small town of Mammoth Falls, with its cast of characters that are wild, imperfect, and human, leaps off the page. Shelly Stratton is adept at portraying just how complicated the human heart can be."
- Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Daisy Jones & the Six
"A touching, nuanced, adult coming-of-age novel...."
- Kirkus Reviews for Between Lost and Found
"A heartfelt story about the power of forgiveness, redemption, and finding grace in unexpected places."
- Maureen Leurck, author of Monarch Manor
"Stratton (Between Lost and Found, 2017) strategically alternates between past and present, drawing out the mystery of Delilah's past and a murder that took place at Harbor Hill. . . . Stratton's novel depicts change and strength that are timely with today's social climate."
- Booklist