The Sweetest Fruit

When a foster-care worker drops 11-year-old Arnelle in front of her tenth temporary home and takes off, she closes her eyes and conjures the family she hopes to find inside. But it's the girl she meets outside that will change her life.In a small town teeming with quirky characters-some friends, some foes-Arnelle and Lena become as close as sisters as they grow up together until the evening Arnelle flees-clutching her beloved paint set and spilling the house's sins in her wake.Years later and long grown, the two women meet again. One is successful, and one is spiraling-clutching a gun and a secret. It's a secret her old friend will never learn.Soon, everyone else will.