Book excerpt: The year was 1950. Mary Ella Harris, works hard sharecropping alongside her husband, a man with a penchant for gambling, drinking, and associating with unsavory white people. When she is cornered in her home by Leon Turner, a white man who refuses to take no for an answer, Mary Ella narrowly avoids an attempted rape. After his arrest, Leon escapes jail and enacts a bloody revenge with two accomplices. With the eyes of the nation watching, the state itself is on trial. The jury's controversial decision ultimately serves as a catalyst for change.