The Revisioners, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
The Revisioners, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton
3 Rating(s)
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
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The Revisioners
A Novel

Author: Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Narrator: Adenrele Ojo, Myra Lucretia Taylor

Unabridged: 8 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/05/2019


Synopsis

Following her National Book Award–nominated debut novel, A Kind of Freedom, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton returns with this equally elegant and historically inspired story of survivors and healers, of black women and their black sons, set in the American South.In 1925, 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 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 her grandchild to be her companion. But Martha’s behavior soon becomes erratic, then even 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 a mother and a child, and the dangers that upend those bonds. At its core, The Revisioners ponders generational legacies, the endurance of hope, and the undying promise of freedom.

About Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, born and raised in New Orleans, studied creative writing at Dartmouth College and law at UC Berkeley. Her debut novel, A Kind of Freedom, was long-listed for the National Book Award and the Northern California Book Award, won the Crook’s Corner Book Prize, and was the recipient of the First Novelist Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her family. Find out more at MargaretWilkersonSexton.com.

About Myra Lucretia Taylor

Myra Lucretia Taylor is an award-winning actress who has appeared on Broadway, off Broadway, in many theaters across the country, and internationally. Her television and film credits include Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Atlanta, The Big Sick, Bushwick, and Catfight.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Angela M on November 24, 2019

4.5 Sometimes it’s startling to see how much history is so much a part of the present. This is a powerful story about how the prejudice of the past has in many ways not dissipated as some may think and as many of us hoped. Narrated in multiple time frames by two black women, separated by generations......more

Goodreads review by Jessica on August 20, 2019

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton bowled me over with her first novel, A KIND OF FREEDOM, a deeply resonant novel about three generations of a Black New Orleans family. Her second novel, THE REVISIONERS, also moves through time but over an even greater span: from 1855 to 1925 to 2017. At first it seems thes......more

Goodreads review by NILTON on September 20, 2021

Two characters. Two storylines. Three timeline: 2017/1924/1855. Excellent concept, great structure and good writing. There is even a mythical aspect to the story (they can make things happen through their mind). Why did I not love this book? It’s an easy and fast read (just about 73k words) and the chapte......more

Goodreads review by Bobbieshiann on November 04, 2019

This story is like a string you come across that is so long you keep following it until you find out what’s at the end. A story where Black women narrate it and give you feelings of strength and courage. Black women raising their sons in the age were rap music is questionable and a time where lookin......more

Goodreads review by Nursebookie on June 12, 2020

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 O......more


Quotes

“A powerful tale of racial tensions across generations.” Parade

“A bracing window into Southern life and tensions, alternating between two women’s stories—set nearly 100 years apart.” Entertainment Weekly

“Sexton writes with such a clear sense of place and time that each of these intermingled stories feels essential and dramatic in its own way.” Washington Post

“The fragility fashioned by the sacrifices of Black bodies is confronted in this smart and spooky novel.” Essence

“At the intriguing crossroads of the seen and the unseen lies a weave among five generations of women.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"[In] this excellent story…a chilling plot twist reveals the insidious racial divide that stretches through the generations, but it’s the larger message that’s so timely.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[In] this rich audiobook…narrator Myra Lucretia Taylor…delivers a sumptuous portrait of Josephine as intelligent and capable yet suspicious of outsiders, especially white ones. Adenrele Ojo narrates the chapters about Ava…In a clear, contemporary-sounding voice, Ojo portrays Ava’s reluctance to rely on others and her fierce protection of her son. Both narrators capture these intense characters as they blossom.” AudioFile

“Tackles generational legacies, the echoes of history, and strength of bonds between women.” Literary Hub

"The Revisioners is a passionate exploration of liberty, heritage, sisterhood, and motherhood in New Orleans.” BookPage

“Readers will engage fully in this compelling story of African American women who have power in a culture that attempts to dismantle it.” Booklist


Awards

  • Parade Magazine Pick
  • O Magazine Pick
  • Shondaland Pick
  • Electric Literature
  • Millions.com Pick
  • Essence Magazine Pick
  • Amazon Best Book of the Month
  • Entertainment Weekly Pick
  • Cosmopolitan Pick
  • Bustle Pick
  • SIBA Okra Pick
  • BookPage Top Pick
  • BBC Pick
  • BookPage Book of the Day
  • Audible Pick
  • New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
  • NAACP Image Award
  • Kirkus Reviews Pick