Zeal: A Novel

Written by Morgan Jerkins

Narrated by January LaVoy and Shayna Small

Named a Most Anticipated Book by Washington Post, People, Time

“A beautiful tale.” —Jason Reynolds, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Twenty-four Seconds from Now

The New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing and Caul Baby returns with an epic, multi-generational novel that illuminates the legacy of slavery and the power of romantic love.

Harlem, 2019. Ardelia and Oliver are hosting their engagement party. As the guests get ready to leave, he hands her a love letter on a yellowing, crumbling piece of paper . . .

Natchez, 1865. Discharged from the Union Army as a free man after the war’s end, Harrison returns to Mississippi to reunite with the woman he loves, Tirzah. Upon his arrival at the Freedmen’s Bureau, though, he catches the eye of a woman working there, who’s determined to thwart his efforts to find his beloved. After tragedy strikes, Harrison resigns himself to a life with her. 

Meanwhile in Louisiana, the newly free Tirzah is teaching at a freedmen’s school, and discovers an advertisement in the local paper looking for her. Though she knows Harrison must have placed it, and longs to find him, the risks of fleeing are too great, and Tirzah chooses the life of seeming security right in front of her.

Spanning over a hundred and fifty years, Morgan Jerkins’s extraordinary novel intertwines the stories of these star-crossed lovers and their descendants. As Tirzah's family moves across the country during the Great Migration, they challenge authority with devastating consequences, while the legacy of heartbreak and loss continues on in the lives of Harrison's progeny.

When Ardelia meets Oliver, she finds his family’s history is as full of secrets and omissions as her own. Could their connection be a cosmic reconciliation satisfying the unfulfilled desires of their ancestors, or will the weight of the past, present and future tear them apart?

Sweeping, textured, and meticulously researched, Zeal is both a story of how one generation’s choices reverberate through the years and an indelible portrait of an enduring love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 22, 2025
• ISBN: 9780063234123

Morgan Jerkins

Morgan Jerkins is the author of Caul Baby, Wandering in Strange Lands, and the New York Times bestseller This Will Be My Undoing. Jerkins has taught at Columbia and Princeton Universities, and has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, and the Guardian, among many others. She lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews for Zeal

[yvonnee1974 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is amazing and it speaks to the resiliance of us as a people and of love.

[cmjenkins122 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this book. It is historical fiction done right, with a balance of beauty and truth that holds your attention from the very first page. The story feels deeply grounded in real history while still breathing with emotion and imagination.

The parts about Nicodemus and the post-Reconstruction South were especially powerful. You can tell Morgan Jerkins did her research because the historical details feel alive rather than academic. The world she builds is textured and real, and the characters move through it with courage, pain, and hope that feel fully human.

What makes this book stand out is how it blends fact and fiction so seamlessly. It honors the real people and places that inspired it while creating a story that speaks to our time too. By the end, I felt both educated and moved. This is a novel that reminds you why historical fiction matters.

[Meshel Madison · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was so immersed into the journeys that were going on in this ?. Read the book.????

[Quaneisha Mcleod · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This journey of this book was captivating. I will admit that the introduction of post civil war trauma for black people was a bit overwhelming as I was not prepared for that. I’m not opposed to hearing about the experience of those who were enslaved again I just was not prepared. Also, the details sadden me. I almost did not finish but I’m glad I pushed through. This story tied the history of two families to the present for a beautiful love story. Also the past stories of those enslaved correlated to George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. I also love how genealogy is incorporated as this is something that I am passionate about. The characters intertwined beautifully for full circle moments. I do recommend this book just mentally prepare for those painful reflections of history.