This New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year is “a powerful tale of racial tensions across generations” (People) that explores the depths of women’s relationships—powerful women and marginalized women, healers and survivors. In 1924, 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 … 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 Ava to be her companion. But Martha’s behavior soon becomes erratic, then 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 mothers and their children, the dangers that upend those bonds. At its core, The Revisioners ponders generational legacies, the endurance of hope, and the undying promise of freedom.
“[A] stunning new novel . . . Sexton’s writing is clear and uncluttered, the dialogue authentic, with all the cadences of real speech . . . This is a novel about the women, the mothers.” ―The New York Times Book Review
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This riveting novel, The Revisioners was told in two crucial point of views and in three pivoting time lines that feature two African-American women – Ava and Josephine, who are connected by blood, and whose stories span over 160 years from the 1850’s through 1920’s, and finally in current day New Orleans, 2017.
This is a story of a family that for generations had been penetrated by deeply ingrained racism. This is a timely story that the readers will connect with and the reason why our black communities are still struggling for equality and human rights.
The story begins in current time with Ava as a biracial woman who moves in to her very wealthy white great grandmother’s home to work as her companion – the story wants me to believe just as Ava, that social progress and racism has been overcome in this family despite warnings from her own family.
My favorite was Josephine’s story, which began as an enslaved child in the mid 1800’s. Her story continues as she becomes a successful landowner in the 1920’s. Throughout the story, there were sprinkling of prayers, scriptures and church hymns that add to the setting of life in the south during those times.
The Revisioners was a sweeping and powerful story of how racial tensions spans across generation through the stories of women, their familial relationships, and the ingrained prejudice that seeps through not only in this family but the community that goes beyond skin deep.
I highly recommend this book. Margaret Wilkerson Sexton is a brilliant writer that probes into the stories of the privileged to the marginalized, and the fragility of the racial divide that is still palpable in our current times. A timely and relevant story that is a must read.
I was mesmerized by The Revisioners… Sexton’s novel is extraordinary, and its effects will go on and on.
Couldn’t get into it.
This is good reading like few writers do anymore. It took its time to draw me in. I read along, mildly interested in the characters lives, lured to great period details. And then wham ! Halfway in the magic began both literally and figuratively. Suddenly, just like the main character, i understood the importance of those that came before us. How their lives influence who we are. Great job!
The author leaves you wondering how we connect – as husbands, wives, children, siblings. She shows us how fragile these bonds can be and how quickly life can detour us on paths that change us forever. A wonderful novel that captures your imagination from the first to last page.
Great book. Perfect for a book club
4.5 stars. Beautiful prose and a distinctive voice in this powerful novel about racism and inter-racial dynamics within families. The dual narrative follows Ava in 2017 and her great great grandmother (?I think – I am a bit unclear on the generations) in 1924 and also back in 1855 when she fled slavery as a young child. There are a lot of characters in the 1924 and 1855 chapters which was confusing at first, but I allowed myself to just go with the flow, and relish the beautiful story-telling. A timely story about the deep the legacy of slavery
An impeccable novel of magic, loss, and family, all anchored by generations of powerful women.
This elegant and powerful novel sweeps you up from the very first page, spanning the last gasps of slavery to the present day. The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton plunges you deep within the complexity of a Louisiana family as the echoes of history repeat over generations and provides a powerful testament to the ingenuity and resilience of women protecting themselves and those they love in an unyielding world.
In paying homage to the triumph of black women who survived and even thrived in a society built to deny them dignity, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton has written an astonishing novel. The Revisioners is nothing less than a rare celebration of the power of women and mothers to build a better future. Sexton’s style is fluid and seamless, and readers will find themselves hoping to meet Ava and Josephine in real life.
Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s 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.
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.