Let Us Descend – Jesmyn Ward (ENG)

Let Us Descend – Jesmyn Ward

 

An Oprah’s Book Club Pick

 

Let Us Descend is a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.

Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent, this, her fourth novel, is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.

From one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this miracle of a novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land – the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. Let Us Descend is Jesmyn Ward’s most magnificent novel yet, a masterwork for the ages.

 

‘Leaves you in awe of the human capacity to not only endure, but to ascend back to the light … Spectacular’ – ANTHONY DOERR

 

‘A stunning achievement. Will grip you from the first word to the last’ – NATHAN HARRIS

 

Details

ISBN: 9781526666765
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 320 v