"Watkins’s prose is effortless and forthright.This is an impressive feat of storytelling. *Named one of BookBub’s “16 Books to Read Over Labor Day Weekend” and Ebony's “Books by Black Authors That Should Be on Your Fall Reading List”* *A Black Caucus of the American Library Association Honor Book for Fiction* Set in vividly drawn Texas and tackling themes like trauma, legacy, faith, home, class, race, and more, this beautiful yet heart-wrenching novel will appeal to anyone who is interested in the intricacies of family and the ways bonds can be made, maintained, or irrevocably broken. This family’s “reunion” unearths long-kept secrets and forces each member to ask themselves important questions about who is deserving of forgiveness and who bears the cross of blame. Told in alternating chapters, Perish follows four members of the Turner family: Julie B., a woman who regrets her wasted youth and the time spent under Helen Jean’s thumb Alex, a police officer grappling with a dark and twisted past Jan, a mother of two who yearns to go to school and leave Jerusalem, Texas, and all of its trauma behind for good and Lydia, a woman whose marriage is falling apart because her body can’t seem to stay pregnant, as they're called home to say goodbye to their mother and grandmother. Spanning decades, Perish tracks the choices Helen Jean-the matriarch of the Turner family-makes and the way those choices have rippled across generations, from her children to her grandchildren and beyond. Those are the words Helen Jean hears that fateteful night in her cousin’s outhouse that change the trajectory of her life. * The Millionsįrom a stunning new voice comes a powerful debut novel, Perish, about a Black Texan family, exploring the effects of inherited trauma and intergenerational violence as the family comes together to say goodbye to their matriarch on her deathbed.īear it or perish yourself. Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by Good Morning America * Essence* Esquire * The Root * Bustle * Ebony * PopSugar * Ms.
And it’s a brave triumph of a novel that readers won’t forget long after finishing it. It’s a novel about coming home, despite that home being broken. It’s a difficult read and a tender story of silences and secrets. This is an impressive feat of storytelling. “Watkins’s prose is effortless and forthright.
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