Liz Here Now

A privileged childs life is forever changed by the bravery of the familys Black maid when Elizabeth Baxter refuses to silently witness the abuse Todd Connor and his siblings receive at the hands of their wealthy prominent parents. Overcoming fear for her own safety Liz endures both prejudice and police brutality in an attempt to protect her little white babies until a lone white police captain believes the truth and becomes her ally. An autobiographical novel set during the tensions of the 1960s civil rights movement Liz Here Now proves the healing power of love and determination.Only decades later does anyone learn of Lizs bravery and the horror that had taken place within the Connors wealthy home. At Lizs packed funeral Todd the sole white person in the church is there to honor to the heroine who loved and saved him his sister and brother from the psychotic woman who was a mother in name only and the complicity of their father a renowned physician more concerned about protecting his prestige than his own children.Unable to speak through his sorrow Todd is reminded by Elizabeths grieving husband Yo dark story gonna show off her light. They gonna hear a truth about her fo the first time ever. Those words spur Todd to fulfill Lizs dying request: She took my familys secret to her grave he says but she asked me to break that silence now.Liz Here Now is set in the past but delivers compelling lessons for today: that we all must become aware of the insidious effects of and speak out against abuse in any form whether physical or the humiliating treatment many African-Americans are still subjected to daily.