Stand Your Ground

In number-one Essence-best-selling author Victoria Christopher Murray's new novel, three women must grapple with their faith and belief in justice when they become caught up in a highly charged murder trial involving the death of an African American teenage boy whose shooter maintains a "stand your ground" defense.

Stand Your Ground is the story of three women who find themselves thrown together because of the most horrible of situations. Janice Johnson suffers through every mother's nightmare when she finds out that her 16-year-old son, Marquis, was murdered in the parking lot of a convenience store. But she and her husband's horror becomes greater when they find out that the shooter has not been arrested. The Johnsons begin a quest to get justice for their son - though the Johnsons want to take different roads to justice.

Janice wants to work with the police while her husband calls on his brother who is a member of the Brown Guardians, a militant group who've been accused of being nothing more than street vigilantes. This struggle drives a wedge between Janice and her husband at a time when they should be drawing closer together. It doesn't help that there's been infidelity in their marriage in the past that is rearing its head again.

Shelly Vance cannot believe that she is in the middle of this nightmare. Her husband, Wyatt, has killed a teenager who he says attacked him. And now that tragedy has been magnified by the racial divide that it's created in the city. Matters are made worse when her husband is finally arrested and put on trial. And by extension Shelly finds herself being judged by everyone, from her employer to her friends. But no matter what, Shelly is going to stand by her husband, even though she has a secret that could blow this case wide open.

Genre: Literary Fiction