“Every now and then a work comes along that makes you wonder whether you are reading or dreaming. And you’re not sure it matters which.”—Nikki Giovanni

“If ‘resilience’ was a book, it would be The Freedom Race. It has a prescience about it in the tradition of Octavia Butler.” —Maurice Broaddus

“American magic-realism meets the outcome of the Second U.S. Civil War in a well-told, brutally jolting, strangely prescient, and soul-haunting narrative.”—L. E. Modesitt, Jr., bestselling author of the Saga of Recluce series

“Roy’s comprehensive worldbuilding and immersive language creates a tapestry that blends realistic fantasy with the Black experience in the United States…. Ji-ji’s journey is a story of resilience and hope rooted in a place where Octavia Butler and Rivers Solomon intersect with The Handmaid’s Tale.”—Booklist

This gut-wrenching read takes place in a near-future United States where white people once again enslave African Americans….This powerful, riveting novel provides a glimpse into a nightmarish future that’s all too similar to our past.–Buzzfeed (A pick for Buzzfeed’s “Best Books of July 2021.”)