Author: Shannon Sanders
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Holt, Henry & Company, Inc., 2026
Pages: 416
Rating: Highly Recommend
Synopsis: At thirty-two, Aubrey Lamb is stumbling through adulthood. An underpaid gig worker in Washington, D.C., she's grieving the end of a serious relationship and the recent loss of her father. When Aubrey learns she has inherited his stake in a sizeable Tennessee farm she sees an opportunity to get out of the city - and to erase a mounting pile of debt.
Watching her arrival with great interest are four ghosts - Aubrey's ancestors, who've staked their own claims to the farm and who never hesitate to pass judgement on the mistakes made by the living, whether romantic, financial, or sartorial. As Aubrey reconnects with her living family, another story unfolds in parallel: the history of the land, beginning with its purchase by Thomas, Aubrey's great-grandfather and one of the first Black landowners in his community. Though Thomas hopes to give his children a homestead on which they could flourish, the land proves to be a burdensome inheritance. Over the years, it turns the Lambs against one another, culminating in a catastrophic tragedy that splinters the family and echoes through the decades.
Now, as the clock ticks on a potential sale of the farm, the ghosts fear expulsion from the home they've made, and Aubrey must weigh the hopes and burdens of her forebears with the very real needs of her future.
Review: They had me at "family saga." I'm big fan of debut novels because I feel that authors put their whole selves into the story, and this certainly lived up to expectations. I loved the narrator perspective, the toggle between Living and Dead. Everything about this novel worked for me. This is definitely in my Top 5 best books this year.
