Caul Baby

Description

Laila desperately wants to become a mother, but each of her pervious pregnancies has ended in heartbreak. To protect the child she’s now carrying, she turns to the Melancons, an old and powerful Harlem family known for their caul, a precious layer of skin that is rumored to hold miraculous healing properties.

But a deal to acquire the caul falls apart, and Laila’s child is stillborn. Overcome with grief and rage, Laila does not know that her niece, Amara, an ambitious college student, is secretly expecting a baby. When the baby arrives, Amara names her Hallow and arranges for her to be privately adopted. Amara is unaware that the adoptive family are the Melancons, who are eager to raise this extraordinary child as their own. Seeing Hallow’s unusual caul, the Melancon matriarch predicts the girl will save the family and restore the riches they once enjoyed.

Growing up, Hallow feels that something in her life is not right. Did Josephine, the woman she calls mother, really bring her into the world? Why is her cousin Helena allowed to roam the streets of New York freely while she must remain at home? Is she fated to live, work, and die in the Melancons’ crumbling brownstone? As the family’s thirst to maintain their status grows, fate reunites Hallow and Amara, whose career has reached astonishing heights. Now daughter and mother must decide where their true allegiances lie.

Engrossing, unique, and page-turning, Caul Baby illuminates the search for familial connections, the enduring power of tradition, and the darkest corners of the human heart.