Downing's novel traces the layered inheritance of Black and Cherokee identity through the fictional life of a young girl, Ophelia Blue Rivers. The story is set in the historical town of Etsi, which confronts what the author calls America’s “two original sins” — Black enslavement and Indigenous genocide — and invites readers to reflect on what happens when those histories meet in one body. For me, I was particularly drawn to how the novel processes historical and inter-generational wounds, and what literature means in this context for collective healing.

Recommended Reading:

Black Cherokee

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