Author Tracy Keenan, "Tangle Braid"

January 26, 2027
12:00pm - 1:00pm

Three girls grow up together in Wheeling, West Virginia, around the time of the Civil War: one impoverished and ambitious, one haunted by spirits that reveal what the living try to hide, and one enslaved, her freedom contingent on the death of the very person she's been ordered to keep alive. Their lives are tangled around one man—brother to one, husband to another, and predator of the third—who tries to cheat them out of what is theirs. When the system is designed to break you, what does it cost to fight back—and what does it cost not to?

"Tangled Braid" will spark lively discussions in book clubs, among fans of historical fiction, and anyone who loves compelling characters. It asks hard questions about race, class, addiction, the bonds and betrayals of family, and what women owe each other in a world that was never built for them.

Author Bio: Tracy Keenan's work spans music, poetry, short stories, and the spoken word, grounded in a lifetime of listening to people's stories, struggles, and quiet hopes. Whether translating ancient texts for contemporary audiences or crafting characters shaped by history's hardest moments, she believes storytelling is one of the most powerful ways we come to understand ourselves and one another. A Presbyterian minister as well as a literary artist, her poetry and prose have appeared in regional and denominational publications. She grew up in Pittsburgh, carries West Virginia in her roots, and, after many years in Ohio, she and her husband now live in Delaware. "Tangled Braid" is her first novel.