In 1955, a 21-year-old white woman named Carolyn Bryant claimed Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy visiting relatives in Mississippi, made sexual advances towards her. That claim led to his kidnapping and brutal murder. But more than five decades later, Bryant broke her long public silence, confessing to historian Timothy Tyson that her allegations against Till were false. Tyson has outlined the story in his new novel.

Carolyn Bryant Donham, now age 81, admitted that Till never made “crude” comments towards her or did anything that made him deserve the treatment he received. Three days after she originally accused him, her husband and his half-brother abducted Till from his uncle’s home. Till’s badly-mutilated body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River days later. Donham now says she never agreed with what her husband did. She felt said she feels sorrow for Till’s mother and still regrets her actions.