For Your Reading List

The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s second novel alternates between two narrators: women of different generations of the same family line separated by over a century. In 2017 we follow Ava, a biracial single mom who moves in with her aging white grandmother to act as a companion. In 1924, Josephine is our narrator: a former sharecropper and formally enslaved woman now in her 70s, running a thriving farm who begins a cautious friendship with her new white neighbor. As the novel continues, Ava and Josephine’s stories increasingly parallel each other as their newfound relationships become more and more threatening to the narrators and their families.

Sexton painfully brings to life the continued assault on the black American psyche as she ties together the dangers Josephine and her family experience daily in the Jim Crow era south and the undercurrents of racism that threaten both Ava and her young son. At times the pacing of the novel falters, especially towards the end of the story, and the magical realism that runs through the book is unevenly developed. But maybe that doesn’t matter. The plot of The Revisioners comes secondary to the strength and clarity of Sexton’s prose and its exploration of motherhood and daughterhood, of inherited trauma and the invisible bonds that tie us to the past and give us the power to move forward into the future. Get your copy now. —Jillian Karande

Do you know someone who would love the Books newsletter? Tell them to sign up here!

Got any feedback for us about the newsletter? Respond to this email; we'd love to hear what you want more (or less) of!

BuzzFeed, Inc.
111 E. 18th St.
New York, NY 10003

We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a small share of sales from the links in this email.

View our privacy notice and cookie policy

Unsubscribe