Promise

More about the book

Two Black sisters in small-town New England navigate the challenges of adolescence amid the Civil Rights Movement in this "magical, magnificent novel" (Marlon James). In Salt Point, a town where many fear the outside world, something is shifting by the end of summer 1957. The Kindred sisters, Ezra and Cinthy, are surrounded by love—from their supportive parents, their neighbors the Junketts, and their beautiful coastal hometown. However, as they mature, their white neighbors, including Ezra's best friend Ruby, begin to view them differently. With the national call for freedom and justice for Black Americans intensifying, the sisters face escalating prejudice and fear from the villagers, who see them as threats to their way of life. As violence and tension rise, Ezra and Cinthy must draw on the deep wells of love they have cultivated to perform acts of heroism and grace in their struggle for survival. Through luminous, richly descriptive writing, the story celebrates one family's resistance, ultimately breaking and then rebuilding the heart with themes of courage, hope, and love.