"Brave. Compelling. Provocative. " —Gabrielle Union Wade, actress and New York Times bestselling authorIn this moving memoir, Shirley Smith, wife of NBA Champion and All-Star J. R. Smith, tells the story of giving birth to one of the youngest premature babies to survive—using her experience to heighten awareness of the crisis of Black maternal and infant health and pay tribute to Black women's resilience.Shirley Smith and her husband, NBA champion J. R. Smith, looked forward to the birth of their second child, Dakota, as they celebrated New Year's Eve with family at home. After dinner, Shirley felt a sharp pain that worsened through the night. Only 21-weeks pregnant, she was in labor. Mama Bear is the story of her 141-day ordeal, from entering a hospital emergency room on New Year's morning and giving birth to her premature newborn, to taking her daughter home for the first time the following May.In telling her...

Charlotte Grayson and her sister Kitty are living with their widowed mother at Westbury Hall, which they are renting from the wealthy Sir Benjamin Westbury. When he returns home unexpectedly, he brings with him his handsome great-nephew, Hugo, who demands that they leave the Hall forthwith. Then, during a violent thunderstorm, part of the library panelling is broken away, revealing a gruesome skeleton. The man has obviously been murdered, but who is he and how did he get there? As this gripping story unfolds, past family tensions are revealed and Charlotte puts herself in mortal danger.