This is an example of a multigenerational story, with many different timelines, done well. For a story of such breadth it’s really quite short, which felt refreshing. The characters in this novel experience some brutal tragedies, and yet the tone is overall quite hopeful.
This is the story of the North family. Hazel North married Myron in the 1940s, just before he enlisted to fight in the war. Myron built Hazel a house, brick by brick, in the historic Black suburb of Douglas outside of Memphis. Ultimately he becomes the first Black homicide detective in the city – and is promptly lynched days later, in 1955, leaving behind a pregnant Hazel. Myron’s death inspires Hazel to become more revolutionary, and her daughters Miriam and August (born in 1963, her father is suggested but never named) are raised in a household that values fighting for freedom. In 1995, Miriam returns to the home her father built, this time with her own two daughters in tow, leaving her abusive husband and returning to live with her sister. The return to her home is fraught because of other events that have transpired, but the two generations of sisters do everything that they can to create their own world as they see fit.
I don’t want to share too much about the plot – I think it’s enough to know that there is trauma that begins but does not end with the lynching of their patriarch. Content warnings for the abuse within – nothing is too graphically described but you may want to be cautious. More time is spent on the brilliant North women and their various gifts. The characters are what really make this book special. August is regal in her silk kimono, always with a cigarette dangling from her lips. Miriam is beautiful and determined. Joan and Mya are gifted musicians and artists, and Miriam and August are determined that their generation of North women will actually use their gifts, rather than squander them as August and Miriam fear they may have done.
Loving these characters does not mean loving all of their decisions – August in particular I think makes some complicated choices that I understood but also found difficult to accept. That’s another great joy of a really good novel – the ability to disagree with a character’s choices or actions, but still love them just the same.
Beyond the North women, their entire neighborhood was essentially another character. People on their block look out for one another in such deep ways. Neighborhood friends had a place in each generation’s story, and enriched the pleasure of reading this story.
The writing here was beautiful – Stringfellow is a poet and I often feel that poet’s write the best novels. This was a story about strength and resilience within a family that was asked to deal with so much pain. I look forward to more from Stringfellow after this striking debut!