About the book
A Black Mississippi family takes a road trip to pick up the children’s white father from prison, and the journey cracks open generations of trauma, love, and loss. As the living struggle to survive and stay connected, ghosts gather around them—forcing buried histories to be seen and reckoned with.
Published 2017
Literary Fiction
285 pages
Five stars, even when it’s hard to read
February 14, 2026
I’m going to give this book the five-star rating it deserves, even though it was far from an enjoyable reading experience. The lyrical prose, the rich and layered symbolism, the compact but powerful storyline(s), the character realism, the distinctive narrative voices – everything was spot on. No notes.
All that said, it is also relentlessly brutal in its portrayal of the historical and ongoing abuse of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. And that’s a real tough thing to read about, especially when it involves children. But I decided not use that as a reason to reduce my rating, considering the fact that the entire story speaks to our obligation to bear witness to the unseen and the unheard among us, no matter how hard it is to venture into those darkest corners of human nature.
kelsi’s reading diary 