Time's Undoing

By Cheryl A. Head,

Book cover of Time's Undoing

Book description

A searing and tender novel about a young Black journalist’s search for answers in the unsolved murder of her great-grandfather in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, decades ago—inspired by the author’s own family history

Birmingham, 1929: Robert Lee Harrington, a master carpenter, has just moved to Alabama to pursue a job opportunity,…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

2 authors picked Time's Undoing as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Any book in which a journalist and a librarian are the heroes gets a gold star from me. In this gripping novel, a Black journalist from Detroit who writes about the Black Lives Matter movement goes to Birmingham, Alabama, in 2019 on a personal and professional quest.

Her great-grandfather was, she believes, killed there by a white policeman 90 years ago, and she’s determined to find out the truth. She also thinks his story can illuminate what’s happening nationwide today. Based on this compelling premise, the novel is a mystery, a love story, a history, and an examination of racial…

From Lynn's list on when the political turns personal.

I never lived in the South, but both my parents migrated from Alabama to Chicago in the first half of the twentieth century. I'm an historian whose first professional work was as a journalist, so Time's Undoing hit me in all the tenderest places.

This moving work of historical fiction captured my heart and imagination with a series of deft snapshots that pinged between present-day Birmingham, Alabama and a dark chapter in the city's early twentieth-century past. Cheryl Head mines her own family history to deliver a searing account of unsolved murder and racial injustice. The contemporary thread of this…

Want books like Time's Undoing?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Time's Undoing.

Browse books like Time's Undoing

Book cover of The Night Watchman
Book cover of The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
Book cover of We Are Called to Rise

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,510

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in murder, murder mystery, and criminal investigations?

Murder 1,077 books
Murder Mystery 567 books