Beheld

From the bestselling author of The Wives of Los Alamos comes a riveting story of the first murder in Plymouth,Massachusetts–a crime that shook the fledging colony to its core. It begins with a killing. Ten years after the Mayflower struck shore on rockyunfamiliar soilPlymouth is not the land its residents had imagined. Seemingly established on a dream of religious freedomthe town is led by fervent Puritans who prevent the Anglican residents from worshiping as they choose. The Billingtons–Anglicansoutsidersand rebels–have just about had enoughand that’s when a stranger arrives. With grippingimmersive details and beautiful proseTaraShea Nesbit reframes the story of the pilgrims in the historically under-recorded voices of two women of very different status and means. She evokes a vividominous Plymouthpopulated by famous and unknown characters alikeeach with conflicting desires and questionable behavior. Suspenseful and literaryBeheld is about a murder and a trial; but it’s also about the motivations–personal and political–that cause people to act in unsavory ways. Whose stories get told over timewho gets believed–and subsequentlywho gets punished? Beheld is an intimatepersonal portrait of lovemotherhoodand friendshipand an exploration of what people lose and what they struggle to maintain.