We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels

From the publisher:
When Detroit Free Press reporter Elizabeth Balsam meets James Rich, his strange request--that she look up a relative she didn't know she had in order to deliver an old camera and a box of photos--seems like it isn't worth her time. But when she loses her job after a botched investigation, she suddenly finds herself with nothing but time.

At her great-aunt's 150-year-old farmhouse, Elizabeth uncovers a series of mysterious items, locked doors, and hidden graves. As she searches for answers to the riddles around her, the remarkable stories of two women who lived in this very house emerge as testaments to love, resilience, and courage in the face of war, racism, and misunderstanding. And as Elizabeth soon discovers, the past is never as past as we might like to think.
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This book is well written.  It is a book that is hard to put down because of the story.  Erin Bartels does well in this as a debute novelist. 

This story covers three different time periods, all connected: current, Underground Railroad, and the Civil War.  Readers may or may not enjoy this. But it does allow for there to be a broader picture of racism, war, and love. 

This is not a book that is going to guarantee you a happy ending.  Not every story is tied up, and not every story ends the way you want it to.  But what I can appreciate about that is that Bartels was giving the readers a realistic picture of what life could have been like.

I received this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.