When the Reckoning Comes, LaTanya McQueen
When the Reckoning Comes, LaTanya McQueen
2 Rating(s)
List: $23.99 | Sale: $16.79
Club: $11.99

When the Reckoning Comes
A Novel

Author: LaTanya McQueen

Narrator: Kara Young

Unabridged: 8 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 08/03/2021


Synopsis

""LaTanya McQueen's When The Reckoning Comes is so deliciously uncomfortable there were moments where I had to put the book down, take a deep breath, and like Mira, its protagonist, urge myself to go further. This is a novel, like Octavia Butler's Kindred, that reminds its readers that as long as people don't acknowledge how much of the past still shapes the present, it will bring its whips, its hatchets, and fists to make us learn."" — Megan Giddings, author of LakewoodA haunting novel about a black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind.More than a decade ago, Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south to forget. With every mile she traveled, she distanced herself from her past: from her best friend Celine, mocked by their town as the only white girl with black friends; from her old neighborhood; from the eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits of slaves; from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day when a dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse—the boy she secretly loved—arrested for murder.But now Mira is back in Kipsen to attend Celine’s wedding at the plantation, which has been transformed into a lush vacation resort. Mira hopes to reconnect with her friends, and especially, Jesse, to finally tell him the truth about her feelings and the events of that devastating long-ago day.But for all its fancy renovations, the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive racist history. The bar serves antebellum drinks, entertainment includes horrifying reenactments, and the service staff is nearly all black. Yet the darkest elements of the plantation’s past have been carefully erased—rumors that slaves were tortured mercilessly and that ghosts roam the lands, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented them, which includes most of the wedding guests. As the weekend unfolds, Mira, Jesse, and Celine are forced to acknowledge their history together, and to save themselves from what is to come.

About LaTanya McQueen

LaTanya McQueen is the author of the essay collection And It Begins Like This. A recipient of a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts and a grant and the Elizabeth George Foundation, she is an assistant professor of English at NC State University where she teaches in the MFA program.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lala on December 12, 2021

reading all the goodreads horror nominees [URL not allowed]......more

Goodreads review by Gabby on November 28, 2021

Closer to a 4.5 Ahhh, this was so good. So dark and haunting and atmospheric and I really loved the characters in this. Really great and relevant discussion about plantations and why it’s so inappropriate to have weddings and celebrations on land like this. I can’t wait to see what this author writes......more

Goodreads review by Ms. Woc Reader on August 03, 2021

Mira fled her small and segregated North Carolina town over a decade ago and never looked back. One day she receives an wedding invitation from a white friend she long grew apart from. The venue is the newly renovated Woodsman plantation. Mira still holds memories from an excursion gone awry on the......more

Goodreads review by Brandon on February 06, 2025

A really solid, slow burn supernatural horror/thriller!! I went into this blind and wasn’t sure what to expect, and I was hoping the ending would be a bit crazier and wish the pace was a bit faster, but overall this was eerie, upsetting, and creeped me out a few times.......more

Goodreads review by Jesse On Youtube on November 07, 2022

McQueen DID that. gorgeously written haunting horrific wonderfully plotted complex characters peak supernatural and racialized horror ngl did not love the ending but the book was so phenomenal overall that it didnt matter! ps, the audio narrator was incredible......more