Yaa Gyasi: Homegoing

"'She worked in the field. It was not new to her. In Hell, she'd worked the land too. In Hell, the sun scorched cotton so hot it almost burned the palms of your hands to touch it. Holding those small white puffs almost felt like holding fire, but God forbid you let one drop.' Effia and Esi- two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fates reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to a cotton-picking plantation in Mississippi, from a village missionary school to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel - the intense, heartbreaking story of a one family and through their lives the very story of America itself. Epic in its canvas and intimate in its portraits, Homegoingis a novel about how history shapes us all. It is a searing and profound debut from a masterly new writer."