The Revisioners: A Novel

By Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

This New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year from the author of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, On the Rooftop, is "a powerful tale of racial tensions across generations" (People) that explores the depths of women’s relationships—influential women and marginalized women, healers, and survivors.

In 1924, 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 Ava to be her companion. But Martha’s behavior soon becomes erratic, then 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 mothers and their children, the dangers that upend those bonds. At its core, The Revisioners ponders generational legacies, the endurance of hope, and the undying promise of freedom.

"[A] stunning new novel . . . Sexton’s writing is clear and uncluttered, the dialogue authentic, with all the cadences of real speech . . . This is a novel about the women, the mothers." ―The New York Times Book Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9781640092594

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

MARGARET WILKERSON SEXTON studied creative writing at Dartmouth College and law at UC Berkeley. Her most recent novel, The Revisioners, won a 2020 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work and was a national bestseller as well as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her debut novel, A Kind of Freedom, was long-listed for the National Book Award. She lives in Oakland with her family.

Reviews for The Revisioners

[msf59 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a multi-generational novel, that follows several different timelines, beginning in the Civil War/slavery era, then into 1920s, New Orleans and then follows these descendants into current times. The author masterfully weaves these stories together, emphasizing the African American experience, and their constant struggle, witnessing very little change over the many turbulent, decades. An impressive work.

[shazjhb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent book. Not sure if I understood all the references. Not sure what happened to some of the characters. Would have liked a chart to see the family ties

[drfuriosa · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was waiting for a denouement that never actually arrived. The book itself is not bad, but I was set up for a very different kind of novel, one that had more Jordan Peele/Lovecraft Country vibes.

[knittinkitties · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story I’d give 5/5 stars but the writing was 3/5. Something is lost, especially in historical fiction, when the book is written in the present tense.

[beth.clarke · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A quick read, and well worth your time. The story goes back and forth in time, but there are only 3 time periods, so it doesn't get confusing. The ancestors' struggles and accomplishments are evident in the present day storyline showing how one's life choices can affect generations to come. Beautifully told stories that teach lessons.