HOMEGOING by Yaa Gyasi

HOMEGOING is both a novel and a collection of short stories, with each chapter dedicated to a single character in a shared family tree. It starts with two daughters of an Asante woman named Maame, whose lines quickly diverge when one remains in Ghana and the other is captured and sent to the American south. 

The book covers hundreds of years through fourteen characters, from the Antebellum south and Harlem Renaissance to the Anglo-Asante wars in Ghana. And while the stories are different, all are deeply personal depictions that piece together a collective narrative our history books don’t cover well enough. Like The Vanishing Half, HOMEGOING shows both the personal and cultural impact of the slave trade through its victims and their descendants, painting a portrait of the uneven ground we’re still left with today. My friend Cassidy recommended this book, and so I’m grateful she did. 

Recommended by Stephen