The Undertaker’s Assistant

In "The dead can't hurt you. Only the living can," Effie Jones, a young freedwoman and skilled embalmer in post-Civil War New Orleans, navigates her complex past shaped by her experiences as a former slave. As she meticulously works alongside her white employer, she remains distant from her boarding house mates until encounters with a charismatic legislator and a beautiful Creole draw her into the world of activism and social ambition. Determined to trace her lost family, Effie faces challenges that test her resolve amid a backdrop of racial turmoil and personal betrayal, ultimately seeking her rightful place in a changing society.