The author brings us into the 1920s, just after women won the legal right to vote, and while they were still strug­gling for the social right to do so. Though change is in the air in Belle’s town of Gen­try, Louisiana, it isn’t here yet, and women are expect­ed to wear their hair long, ride hors­es — nev­er dri­ve — and com­port them­selves like ladies at all times. Belle, how­ev­er, decides to bob her hair, and though she does start out rid­ing a horse, it’s named after a suf­fragette. To make mat­ters worse, Belle starts dri­ving a truck — and repair­ing it her­self! — falls in love with a mar­ried Jew­ish man, has an affair with the fore­man of her plan­ta­tion, and faces up to the Klan. When a Jew­ish friend tells her that the Klan is not her fight, she replies ​“I’m a white, Protes­tant woman. The Klan is sworn to pro­tect me. I’m your only hope.”