The House Behind the Cedars

In the post-Civil War South, Rena Walden lives with her mother in the house behind the cedars, on the Black side of a small North Carolina town. Her older brother John has already crossed the color line, building a successful life as a white lawyer under the name Warwick. He persuades Rena to join him, and she enters white society as Rowena Warwick, where she is courted by George Tryon, a young aristocrat who has no idea of her ancestry. When the secret is exposed by accident, Tryon abandons her, and Rena falls gravely ill. She recovers and turns toward teaching and uplifting her community, but the strain of a life lived across the color line leads to a tragic end.