I Never Knew You at All: A Novel

Summary

Bestselling authors Christine Pride and Jo Piazza return with a gripping new novel where a Black woman’s past collides with her present, unveiling a decades-old mystery that forces her to confront her beliefs about race, love, justice, and her interracial marriage.

When Simone marries into Alex Hartwell’s wealthy white family, she trades her career ambitions for comfort and fully embraces her role as a stay-at-home mom. But when Kwame, Simone’s ex-boyfriend, suddenly arrives in Springville with the journalistic career that she always imagined for herself, her contentment begins to crumble.

Worst still, his newest story has brought him right to her doorstep, as he starts digging into a decades-old unsolved murder of a young Black man who attended The Tate School—the same elite prep school that Alex’s family has attended for generations. When he uncovers a startling connection to the Hartwells, Simone is forced to choose between protecting the family legacy she married into or honoring Kwame’s quest for justice.

Thorny, urgent, and nuanced, I Never Knew You at All thoughtfully examines race through the lens of deeply intimate relationships and digs into complex questions: Who deserves forgiveness? Can people really change? And ultimately—what does it take to hold a marriage together…or break it apart?