Behind the White Picket Fence: Power and Privilege in a Multiethnic Neighborhood

A Gentle Invitation into the Challenging Topic of Privilege The notion that some might have it better than others, for no good reason, offends our sensibilities. Yet, until we talk about privilege, we’ll never fully understand it or find our way forward. Amy Julia Becker welcomes us into her life, from the charm of her privileged southern childhood to her adult experience in the northeast, and the denials she has faced as the mother of a child with special needs. She shows how a life behind a white picket fence can restrict even as it protects, and how it can prevent us from loving our neighbors well. White Picket Fences invites us to respond to privilege with generosity, humility, and hope. It opens us to questions we are afraid to ask, so that we can walk further from fear and closer to love, in all its fragile and mysterious possibilities.

Genevieve is an ordinary child who lives an ordinary life. But through the love of her mother, Genevieve discovers a most extraordinary place. Come see where she journeys to in "The House Behind the White Picket Fence."

Jacob Holmes has worked so hard to provide a decent life for his wife Mindy and their 4 kids. His efforts finally pay off after 15 years of labor and are acknowledged by his boss, which leads to a promotion that could change the course of their lives forever. Did Jacob make the right decision for his family?

I think Suzanne has a great story and I am glad she's doing a book. —Liz Brody, contributing editor at O, The Oprah Magazine Hiding behind her smile, Suzanne portrayed a perfect marriage of love and honor rather than the distorted vows of deception, deceit, lies, cheating, and felonies. Suzanne, a broken-down housewife, shares a recollection of darkness behind the white picket fence, living a life of bondage to a controlling, abusive husband. Feeling she was a failure who could never escape the marriage of darkness. Through unbelievable, insurmountable challenges, an opportunity to reach for freedom presented itself. A riveting story of a quiet, battered housewife who found the strength and courage to face her greatest enemy—her husband. (Liz Brody featured a portion of Suzanne's story in Oprah's magazine, O, in October 2006.) Pulling no punches, Hiding behind a Smile paints a compelling portrait of abuse, betrayal, fear, and, ultimately, redemption. An exciting and timely look at survival and faith. —Peter Heyrman, author of The North Baltimore Stories

Taylor Wayland's cozy life of happiness with her husband Joseph and their three children weren't the only things going well in her life. She had a beautiful home, longtime friends, good health, happiness and prosperity, things that made one's life seem picturesque. But even being surrounded by all of these fortunes, it didn't deter her selfish passions to fill a void. In search of what she saw as a deeper sense of self, she gives in to her thirst for an old flame, her husband's best friend. At the height of their indiscretions, their tryst is revealed during a dinner party, but is immediately outshined by a shocking misfortune involving another friend in the group. In this book, the reader is taken on Taylor's exploration of masking her indiscretions, while grievously including everyone in their inner circle. Taylor's betrayals intertwined with her evolution as a wife, friend and uninhibited lover soon reach a hard-won outcome. It reveals that her vision of a perfect life, would travel along a broken and much less than perfect road. And in receipt of this life, she'll lose just as much as she'll gain.

When her black sheep brother disappears, Amanda Janvier eagerly takes in her sixteen year-old niece Tally. The girl is practically an orphan: motherless, and living with a father who raises Tally wherever he lands– in a Buick, a pizza joint, a horse farm–and regularly takes off on wild schemes. Amanda envisions that she, her husband Neil, and their two teenagers can offer the girl stability and a shot at a “normal” life, even though their own storybook lives are about to crumble. Seventeen-year-old Chase Janvier hasn’t seen his cousin in years, and other than a vague curiosity about her strange life, he doesn’t expect her arrival will affect him much–or interfere with his growing, disturbing interest in a long-ago house fire that plagues his dreams unbeknownst to anyone else. Tally and Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project, and become startlingly aware that the whole family is grappling with hidden secrets, with the echoes of the past, and with the realization that ignoring tragic situations won’t make them go away. Will Tally’s presence blow apart their carefully-constructed world, knocking down the illusion of the white picket fence and reveal a hidden past that could destroy them all–or can she help them find the truth without losing each other?