Mute since armed riders expelled every Black family in town, Jane Edwards seeks assistance from a strange man with uncanny abilities to help fight the construction of a dam that will wash away her new home. Original. 25,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

""Our home began, as all things do, with a wish." Jane Edwards hasn't spoken since she was eleven years old, when armed riders expelled her family from their hometown along with every other Black resident. Now, twelve years later, she's found a haven in the all-Black town of Awenasa. But the construction of a dam promises to wash her home under the waters of the new lake. Jane will do anything to save the community that sheltered her. So, when a man with uncanny abilities arrives in town asking strange questions, she wonders if he might be the key. But as the stranger hints at gods and ancestral magic, Jane is captivated by a bigger mystery. She knows this man. Only the last time she saw him, he was dead. His body laid to rest in a rushing river. Who is the stranger and what is he really doing in Awenasa? To find those answers, Jane will journey into a sunken world, a land of capricious gods and unsung myths, of salvation and dreams made real. But the flood waters are rising. To gain the miracle she desires, Jane will have to find her voice again and finally face the trauma of the past"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

A woman journeys into a submerged world of gods and myth to save her home in this powerful historical fantasy that shines a light on the drowned Black towns of the American South. 

“Our home began, as all things do, with a wish.”

Jane Edwards hasn’t spoken since she was eleven years old, when armed riders expelled her family from their hometown along with every other Black resident. Now, twelve years later, she’s found a haven in the all-Black town of Awenasa. But the construction of a dam promises to wash her home under the waters of the new lake.

Jane will do anything to save the community that sheltered her. So, when a man with uncanny abilities arrives in town asking strange questions, she wonders if he might be the key. But as the stranger hints at gods and ancestral magic, Jane is captivated by a bigger mystery. She knows this man. Only the last time she saw him, he was dead. His body laid to rest in a rushing river. 

Who is the stranger and what is he really doing in Awenasa? To find those answers, Jane will journey into a sunken world, a land of capricious gods and unsung myths, of salvation and dreams made real. But the flood waters are rising. To gain the miracle she desires, Jane will have to find her voice again and finally face the trauma of the past. 

For more from Leslye Penelope, check out The Monsters We Defy. - (Grand Central Pub)

Leslye Penelope has been writing since she could hold a pen and loves getting lost in the worlds in her head. She is an award-winning author of fantasy and paranormal romance. Equally left and right-brained, she studied filmmaking and computer science at Howard University and sometimes dreams in HTML. She hosts the My Imaginary Friends podcast and lives in Maryland with her husband and furry dependents. - (Grand Central Pub)

Booklist Reviews

Penelope's latest historical fantasy after The Monsters We Defy (2022), takes place in the Black southern town of Awenasa and follows Jane, an inquisitive yet doubt-ridden young woman who mainly communicates through ASL. Awenasa's white neighbors are building a dam that will flood the town, and only a miracle can save its residents from losing their homes. A man named Moses emerges from the river and offers just such a miracle. No one else recognizes him, but to Jane he looks just like her sister's deceased beau, whose death Jane feels is her fault. Her guilt permeates the novel, making Jane feel undeserving of happiness and incapable of enacting change. But as Jane learns more about Moses, she discovers a magic brimming within her and ventures with her sister to a fantastical city beneath the river. While Penelope addresses the harrowing real-life facts of drowned Black towns, magic and Jane's growth offer hope and levity. With its foundation in history, enchanting underwater scenes, and endearing townsfolk, this original novel should appeal to readers of both fantasy and historical fiction. Copyright 2024 Booklist Reviews.

Library Journal Reviews

The town of Awenasa, founded by a formerly enslaved person, has become a thriving haven for Black people fleeing the lynchings and oppression endemic to the early 20th-century South. But prosperous Awenasa has drawn the eye of the powerful State Authority, which plans to drown their town with a dam upriver. Reliable, responsible, nosy Jane Edwards knows there's no hope—until a mysterious stranger comes to town and shows her that instead of giving in she can call on old gods and even older legends, invoking magic that is capable of bringing the entire "chariot" of Awenasa all the way to a Black Atlantis. Deftly combining historical fantasy and magical realism with myths and legends from the African diaspora, the novel follows Jane through her dreams, fears, and failings as she does her damnedest to save her corner of the world. VERDICT Fans of Penelope's The Monsters We Defy will be thrilled, while readers of The Deep by Rivers Solomon, In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran, and The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings will find another novel that sings of hope and magic.—Marlene Harris