A Very Special Episode

In Washington, D.C.’s powerful Black elite, legacy is everything. When a young heir to one of the city’s most influential institutions seeks funding to cement her future, a shadowy organization offers to help—but it could cost her far more than she’s willing to give.

Nina Johnson has always taken pride in belonging to The Tenth. After all, she’s following in the footsteps of her ancestors: her great-great-grandmother founded the prestigious DC society—a space for influential African Americans—just forty years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Nina has been elected to helm the organization, but she’s determined to escape the influence of her mother, who has led the organization with a steadfast commitment to tradition while keeping Nina under her freshly manicured thumb.

Nina is determined to forge her own path and do things differently: fewer stuffy, out-of-touch meetings and boring galas, more young people, and a swankier headquarters.

To realize her ambitions, Nina needs funding. So when a wealthy white benefactor named Sienna Masters offers financial support in exchange for her participation in a mysterious project at a former public housing complex, The Orchard, Nina ignores her initial skepticism and agrees to a partnership.

But as Nina and those closest to her piece together Sienna’s true motives, they discover far more sinister forces at play—ones that exploit Nina’s community for profit, with stakes that extend far beyond her ambitions for The Tenth. The question becomes how far Nina is willing to go to shape her future, and what she is willing to sacrifice along the way.

A whip-smart and sly social commentary on the complex interplay of race, class, and family legacy, A Very Special Episode keeps readers on the edge of their seat.