Spanning two continents and three centuries, Yaa Gyasi's luminous debut evokes the tortured legacy of the slave trade through the story of two half sisters and their descendants. The novel toggles between plot lines: one set along Africa's Gold Coast, the other against the brutality of American racism. The author thrillingly depicts her characters' migrations from mud-hut villages to Harlem's jazz clubs to Ghana's silvered beaches, celebrating how place and fate shape us all.
