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Longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award

Longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize Gaines Award For Literary Excellenceįinalist for the Crook's Corner Book Prize Winner of the Publishing Triangle’s Edmund White Awardįinalist for the Ernest J. As tensions build and the weight of centuries-of ancestors and future generations to come-culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets fearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love. With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. Isaiah and Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation's harmony. But when an older man-a fellow slave-seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. Isaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. One of the New York Times Best Historical Fiction of the YearĪ singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.One of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year.

Book the prophets by robert jones