Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A Black couple’s romance ties together the past and the present in Hill’s novel. The author interweaves a present-day storyline—photographer Alessandra Fleming leaves Manhattan for her hometown of Sag Harbor, New York, after her widowed and estranged father is hospitalized—with a series of first-person narratives that relate the story of Ayah, a woman kidnapped and enslaved in the 19th century. When she returns to Sag Harbor, Alessandra meets her neighbor’s grandson Zach Renard, an ethnographer studying the history of free Black communities on Long Island. The two feel an instant connection that intensifies as Zach supports Alessandra through her father’s final days. She is determined to understand the family secrets her parents kept from her as well as the increasing number of unnerving experiences she has been having, sensing sights, sounds, and smells that are not there. When Alessandra discovers a chest full of newspaper clippings, photos, and other artifacts, Zach brings his research skills to bear, and together they uncover Alessandra’s family history and its place in the Black diaspora. The emotionally satisfying love story is complemented by the book’s solid historical grounding as well as a cast of well-developed supporting characters—Zach’s grandmother Grace Oweku; Alessandra’s elderly neighbor Edith Samuels; and her longtime best friend, Traci Howard—who come with backstories that could fill a separate novel. The writing and pacing are solid, making it easy to get hooked by the story. The book’s supernatural elements (“When she opened the door to her space, a sudden flash of seeing herself stepping into a dim, lantern-lit room that smelled of damp wood, sea moss, and dirt floors leaped in front of her. The surreal moment seized her breath. She gripped the doorframe, shook her head, and the image scattered like startled birds”) echo those in Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred while allowing Alessandra’s story to remain entirely its own. The narrative explores issues of systemic racism, slavery, generational wealth-building, and chosen families, addressing them organically without overwhelming the reader with heavy-handed messages. Distinguished by its intense and passionate love story and its insistence on the contemporary relevance of historical events, this engaging tale will keep the reader turning pages until the end. An enjoyable romance brings Black history into the present. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.