Now Lila Knows

Description

There is nothing like racial injustice in America to teach an outsider the differences between perception and reality

"The racial politics of a small town in Vermont, as seen through Lila's eyes, provides an illuminating counterplay between Caribbean and American Blackness."
--Publishers Weekly

"As a portrait of Lila's political and racial awakening, the novel is a grand success."
--Kirkus Reviews

"I fell deep, hard and fast into this book. The very first sentence slices clean and that energy continues throughout the entire story. I am amazed at Elizabeth Nunez's capacity to paint for the reader not only Lila's personal and political lives but her literary life, too."
--Write or Die Mag, 2022 Staff Pick

For Lila Bonnard, the opportunity to take a position as a visiting professor in the US has come at precisely the right time. Still nursing the wounds of one failed relationship and facing uncertainty over her current boyfriend's marriage proposal, spending a year at a small liberal arts college in a picturesque Vermont town offers her sanity a well-deserved rest.

Within moments of her arrival, Lila is forced to face anti-immigrant mentalities and becomes a witness to the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Black man--a fellow professor at Mayfield who was giving CPR to a white woman.

The three Black faculty members in the otherwise all-white, tight-lipped college expect Lila to testify in the case--but at what cost? Mistrust of outsiders, racial tensions, even outright condemnation of others who "don't know their place" . . . all of it comes crashing down around her as she confronts the dangers of speaking out against the police.

Now Lila Knows is a gripping story that explores our obligation to act when confronted with hatred and prejudice. A page-turner with universal resonance, this novel will leave readers rethinking the meaning of love, empathy, and even humanity.