Runner

Buckle up, readers! Ashton Lattimore’s gripping Prohibition-era novel follows two women rumrunners who risk everything to rescue their families and secure their futures in a twisting, turning thrill ride of a story.

“A beautifully written, quintessential tale of family secrets, set against the backdrop of Prohibition and the rich history of a Black community on Martha’s Vineyard.” —Crystal Smith Paul, author of Did You Hear About Kitty Karr?

Set in Martha’s Vineyard in 1923, the story follows Lena Jameson, whose father Earl built a fortune as a fisherman turned rumrunner, smuggling liquor from offshore ships to island customers. When Earl and his entire crew are lost in a mysterious shipwreck, Lena’s world is upended, leaving her family penniless and her own future in jeopardy.

Determined to save her family and reclaim her ambitions, Lena takes over her father’s rum-running operation. She assembles a crew that includes her troubled brother Walter, her loyal but conflicted boyfriend Sam, and Dee, a glamorous visitor from Boston harboring secrets of her own.

The group moves between Martha’s Vineyard, Boston’s underworld, and Harlem during the Jazz Age, chasing money and truth in equal measure. As hidden secrets surface and the dangers of the criminal world intensify, Lena must confront difficult choices that test her loyalty, ambition, and heart in a society quick to judge women who dare to want more.