In 1850, Whittaker House stood as a Massachusetts stop on the Underground Railroad. It’s where two freedom seekers, Little Annie and Clementine, hid and perished in a fire. Whittaker House still stands. And Little Annie and Clementine still linger, their dreams of freedom unfulfilled.
Now a fashionably distressed vacation rental in the Berkshires, Whittaker House draws seekers of another kind, Black women who only appear to be free. Among them are Dominque, a single mother following her Grandmere’s stories to Whittaker House in search of an ancestor. And Michelle, Dominique’s lover, who has journeyed to the Berkshire mountains to heal her own traumas. And Kaye, Michelle’s sister, a seer whose visions reveal the past and future secrets of the former safehouse—along with her own.
For each of them, true liberation can only come from uncovering their connection to history—and to the spirits awaiting peace and redemption within the walls of Whittaker House.
EMBERS ON THE WIND was inspired by my father-in-law’s home, a former safehouse on the Underground Railroad, where a female escapee was rumored to have died. As the only adult of color who visited, I always wondered what her spirit would think about my presence.
Publisher: Little A Books
Publication Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 9781542036863
Lisa Williamson Rosenberg is an author and psychotherapist specializing in complex trauma and racial identity. Lisa is also a former ballet dancer, with articles published in Longreads, Narrative.ly, Grok Nation, and The Common.
Lisa’s short fiction has appeared in Literary Mama and the Piltdown review. Her short story “Coffee Shop,”” which later became a chapter in EMBERS ON THE WIND, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A born-and-raised New Yorker, Lisa now lives in Montclair New Jersey with her husband and dog. She is the mother of two college kids.
2022 Debuts 