Jane Edwards lives in Awenasa, a Black town in the South. Awenasa is along a river that is to be dammed, which will cause the town to be underwater by winter.
Government officials come to town and interview home owners, offering a small amount of money to relocate. Many in the town rent from the town's founder who set up the town as a haven for formerly enslaved folks and their families.
Jane, who has not spoken since she was about ten years old, spots a stranger - a man who looks exactly like her sister's former boyfriend who was lynched in their old town.
Can he be the key to saving Awenasa? Or is he a ghost from the past come to collect what she owes him?
Leslye Penelope is a brilliant storyteller. She weaves magical realism into historically accurate portrayals Black American's lives in our history. If you live in the States, read her books.
Penelope, Leslye. (2024). Daughter of the Merciful Deep. New York: Redhook.
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