11-05-19

8hrs 23min

Abridgement

Unabridged

Genre

Fiction

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Play Audio Sample

11-05-19

8hrs 23min

Abridgement

Unabridged

Genre

Fiction

Description

“A powerful tale of racial tensions across generations.” Parade

Winner of the 2020 NAACP Image Award for Best Literary Work of Fiction
A Parade Magazine Pick of Best Audiobooks for Fall
An Entertainment Weekly Pick for Best Books of the Month
An Essence Magazine Pick for Fall
An Electric Literature Pick of Contemporary Fiction about Navigating White Supremacy
An O Magazine Pick of the Buzziest Books Coming Out This Fall
A Cosmopolitan Pick of the Month's Best Books
A BBC Pick of the Month
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice of the Week
A SIBA Okra Pick for Fall
An Audible Pick of the Month
An Amazon Best Book of the Month
A Bustle Pick of Best Books of the Month
A Shondaland Pick of Fall Books You Won't Be Able to Put Down
A Kirkus Reviews Pick of 12 Best Reads for Book Clubs
A BookPage Top Pick of the Month
A Millions.com Pick of Most Anticipated Books of 2019
A BookPage Book of the Day
See All +

Following her National Book Award–nominated debut novel, A Kind of Freedom, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton returns with this equally elegant and historically inspired story of survivors and healers, of black women and their black sons, set in the American South.

In 1925, Josephine is the proud owner of a thriving farm. As a child, she channeled otherworldly power to free herself from slavery. Now, her new neighbor, a white woman named Charlotte, seeks her company, and an uneasy friendship grows between them. But Charlotte has also sought solace in the Ku Klux Klan, a relationship that jeopardizes Josephine’s family.

Nearly one hundred years later, Josephine’s descendant, Ava, is a single mother who has just lost her job. She moves in with her white grandmother Martha, a wealthy but lonely woman who pays her grandchild to be her companion. But Martha’s behavior soon becomes erratic, then even threatening, and Ava must escape before her story and Josephine’s converge.

The Revisioners explores the depths of women’s relationships―powerful women and marginalized women, healers and survivors. It is a novel about the bonds between a mother and a child, and the dangers that upend those bonds. At its core, The Revisioners ponders generational legacies, the endurance of hope, and the undying promise of freedom.

Praise

“A powerful tale of racial tensions across generations.” Parade

“A bracing window into Southern life and tensions, alternating between two women’s stories—set nearly 100 years apart.” Entertainment Weekly

“Readers will engage fully in this compelling story of African American women who have power in a culture that attempts to dismantle it.” Booklist

The Revisioners is a sweeping, deeply felt meditation on sacrifice and survival. Nuanced and elegantly told, The Revisioners reminds us that history is alive and that we should never lose hope.” Natalie Baszile, author of Queen Sugar

“I was mesmerized by The Revisioners, a time-bending epic about family, desire, strength, and terror, as well as the possibly supernatural power of the stories we tell ourselves. Sexton’s novel is extraordinary, and its effects will go on and on.” R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries

“An impeccable novel of magic, loss, and family, all anchored by generations of powerful women.” Jami Attenberg, author of All Grown Up

“A novel as beautiful as it is hauntingly dazzling, it’s filmic in scope and sensory detail.” Nafissa Thompson-Spires, author of Heads of the Colored People

“Written in a haunted present and a past that’s not past, The Revisioners honors the living and the lost in a painful, tender testament to the power of fiction.” Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden State

“Sexton writes with such a clear sense of place and time that each of these intermingled stories feels essential and dramatic in its own way.” Washington Post

“The fragility fashioned by the sacrifices of Black bodies is confronted in this smart and spooky novel.” Essence

“At the intriguing crossroads of the seen and the unseen lies a weave among five generations of women.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"[In] this excellent story…a chilling plot twist reveals the insidious racial divide that stretches through the generations, but it’s the larger message that’s so timely.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[In] this rich audiobook…narrator Myra Lucretia Taylor…delivers a sumptuous portrait of Josephine as intelligent and capable yet suspicious of outsiders, especially white ones. Adenrele Ojo narrates the chapters about Ava…In a clear, contemporary-sounding voice, Ojo portrays Ava’s reluctance to rely on others and her fierce protection of her son. Both narrators capture these intense characters as they blossom.” AudioFile

“Tackles generational legacies, the echoes of history, and strength of bonds between women.” Literary Hub

"The Revisioners is a passionate exploration of liberty, heritage, sisterhood, and motherhood in New Orleans.” BookPage

+ More
Details
More Information
Language English
Release Day Nov 4, 2019
Release Date November 5, 2019
Release Date Machine 1572912000
Imprint Blackstone Publishing
Provider Blackstone Publishing
Categories Literature & Fiction, African American, Fiction - All, Fiction - Adult, Book Club, Book Club Favorites
Author Bio
Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton studied creative writing at Dartmouth and law at the University of California, Berkeley. A recipient of the Lombard fellowship, she spent a year in the Dominican Republic working for a civil-rights organization and writing her first manuscript, A Kind of Freedom, which received an honorable mention in the Leapfrog Press Fiction Contest. Her stories have been published or are forthcoming in Grey Sparrow Journal, Limestone Journal, and Broad! magazine, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Narrator Bio
Adenrele Ojo

Adenrele Ojo is an actress, dancer, and audiobook narrator, winner of over a dozen Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2018. She made her on-screen debut in My Little Girl, starring Jennifer Lopez, and has since starred in several other films. She has also performed extensively with the Philadelphia Dance Company. As the daughter of John E. Allen, Jr., founder and artistic director of Freedom Theatre, the oldest African American theater in Pennsylvania, is no stranger to the stage. In 2010 she performed in the Fountain Theatre’s production of The Ballad of Emmett Till, which won the 2010 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Ensemble. Other plays include August Wilson’s Jitney and Freedom Theatre’s own Black Nativity, where she played Mary.

Myra Lucretia Taylor

Myra Lucretia Taylor is an award-winning actress who has appeared on Broadway, off Broadway, in many theaters across the country, and internationally. Her television and film credits include Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Atlanta, The Big Sick, Bushwick, and Catfight.

Overview

Winner of the 2020 NAACP Image Award for Best Literary Work of Fiction
A Parade Magazine Pick of Best Audiobooks for Fall
An Entertainment Weekly Pick for Best Books of the Month
An Essence Magazine Pick for Fall
An Electric Literature Pick of Contemporary Fiction about Navigating White Supremacy
An O Magazine Pick of the Buzziest Books Coming Out This Fall
A Cosmopolitan Pick of the Month's Best Books
A BBC Pick of the Month
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice of the Week
A SIBA Okra Pick for Fall
An Audible Pick of the Month
An Amazon Best Book of the Month
A Bustle Pick of Best Books of the Month
A Shondaland Pick of Fall Books You Won't Be Able to Put Down
A Kirkus Reviews Pick of 12 Best Reads for Book Clubs
A BookPage Top Pick of the Month
A Millions.com Pick of Most Anticipated Books of 2019
A BookPage Book of the Day
See All +

Following her National Book Award–nominated debut novel, A Kind of Freedom, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton returns with this equally elegant and historically inspired story of survivors and healers, of black women and their black sons, set in the American South.

In 1925, Josephine is the proud owner of a thriving farm. As a child, she channeled otherworldly power to free herself from slavery. Now, her new neighbor, a white woman named Charlotte, seeks her company, and an uneasy friendship grows between them. But Charlotte has also sought solace in the Ku Klux Klan, a relationship that jeopardizes Josephine’s family.

Nearly one hundred years later, Josephine’s descendant, Ava, is a single mother who has just lost her job. She moves in with her white grandmother Martha, a wealthy but lonely woman who pays her grandchild to be her companion. But Martha’s behavior soon becomes erratic, then even threatening, and Ava must escape before her story and Josephine’s converge.

The Revisioners explores the depths of women’s relationships―powerful women and marginalized women, healers and survivors. It is a novel about the bonds between a mother and a child, and the dangers that upend those bonds. At its core, The Revisioners ponders generational legacies, the endurance of hope, and the undying promise of freedom.

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