Southern civility turns savage when Hank Whitaker's dying words reveal the unimaginable. No one-not his socialite wife, Maggie, or young son, Lance-ever suspected the successful businessman, husband and father they loved, and thought they knew, was a black man passing for white. In 1931, in the segregated South, marriage between whites and blacks is illegal. Maggie, now a criminal, faces the real possibility of going to jail. When Lance receives death threats to atone for his father's betrayal, the family decides to flee the U.S. for a new life in a more racially and socially liberal city, Paris. Still grieving Hank's death and fearful of their uncertain future as Europe marches toward war, Lance and Maggie mourn the lives they loved but lost. As they struggle to create a new identities for themselves, they find a surprising community of artists and American expats that are on the same journey. In a new city, with new friends, new loves and exciting possibilities, they start to believe that it might be possible to change everything, even the past. Provenance is a sweeping historical saga about love, betrayal, tragedy, triumph, passion, privilege and the universal desire for acceptance-regardless of who you are or where you're from. Read Less