Lita, the eagerly awaited sequel to the national bestseller Dead Above Ground, finds Jervey Tervalon's memorable heroine, Lita Du Champ, in California, attempting to leave her hometown behind for good. Ten years after Lita, her twin sisters, her husband Winston, and their two children, packed up and moved to Los Angeles, issues left behind in New Orleans come back to haunt her. Lita is already at loose ends, trying to hold house and home together. One younger sister rebels and both conspire to free themselves from her protective grip. Lita herself can't decide whether to stay in a marriage that is dangerously weak at the seams. Then, she receives an unwelcomed phone call from a trouble-making aunt, telling Lita that her father -- with whom she has a strained relationship -- is on his deathbed. The aunt also says that she has seen Lita's beloved mother -- never mind that the woman has been dead for a decade. As Lita finds herself overwhelmed by a flood of long-suppressed memories, she grudgingly realizes that she must return to New Orleans and take the opportunity to make amends and come to terms with her family and her past.

As she makes the journey back, a growing sense of dread takes root in her soul. She has the sense that her life will change again and there will be no simple turning back to the life she led in Los Angeles. Tervalon answers a legion of fans who asked what was next for one of his most popular characters, Lita Du Champ, and for one of the most colorful and troubled families portrayed in contemporary fiction.