Four long-time friends grow apart as life changes with marriages, careers, and babies entering the picture. The women gather for a beach vacation and some time to reconnect, but things turn dark when they have a few glasses of wine and agree to write anonymous letters sharing some of their deepest, darkest secrets.
Tensions come to a head in the dramatic fallout of one sister meddling in another’s affairs and dredging up the past. The relationship dynamics are slowly, heartwarmingly/heartbreakingly explained through the course of the story as we learn more and more about the intertwined experiences of each family member.
Twin sisters, Stella and Desiree, were inseparable as kids, but diverged as adults. One returned to her small Louisiana all-Black hometown after many years away. The other mysteriously disappeared to live her life passing for a white woman, no one in her new life having a clue.
Friendship bonds are put to the test as a group of upper middle class parents wrestles with their feelings over the plans for an exclusive public school for gifted children. Lines between personal ambitions and competitiveness and wanting the best for their children are blurred as parents get caught up in the application process.
The Sound of Gravel, with tears streaming down my face. I haven’t read a book that gave me such intense emotion in a long time.