Stories That Move From One Generation to the Next

Tiffany McDaniel returns with a novel that will slip under your skin and stay there. On the Savage Side showcases twin sisters clinging to each other as women in their community go missing, exploring the impact desperation and addiction have on the compassion people feel towards victims. Interweaving generational trauma, community, and consequences, McDaniel leaves you breathless. 

A story of love and sacrifice, Pachinko is a must-read. The book follows teenage Sunja who falls for a wealthy stranger near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but at her most vulnerable she discovers his unforgivable deception. Sunja spurns him and accepts a marriage offer that brings her all the way to Japan. Her abandonment of her home and the rejection of her son’s powerful father has dramatic repercussions that ripple down through generations.   

Following the path of two half-sisters and their descendants through eight generations, Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing shines a light on the legacy of slavery for both those who were stolen away from their homes and those who remained. As the book follows the reverberations of one sister marrying an Englishman and the other kidnapped and enslaved, readers will see how even the memory of captivity has impacted the fabric of our nation. Powerful and captivating, Homegoing will embed itself into your soul. 

The year is 2045, and Dorothy’s daughter is plagued by disturbing recollections — those of her ancestors, of times and places she has never been. Dorothy seeks radical help in the form of an experimental treatment which leaves her tethered to the memories of her foremothers stretching back over 250 years. Along the way, she discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she inherited — there’s a stranger out there who’s loved her through all her genetic memories. In order to break the cycle for herself and her daughter, she’s determined to find that love in the present day, no matter what the price might be.  

A sweeping saga perfect for fans of Homegoing, Afterlives is a story of displacement, love, and loss in colonial east Africa. As a boy, Ilyas was stolen from his parents. Upon his return home years later he finds his sister, Afiya, abandoned into slavery and his parents gone. Hamza, similarly traumatized, returns home from war and meets the irrepressible Afiya. As the two fall in love, their fates intertwine, and this tale is one that will entrance readers as it tangles together three storylines and multiple generations.

A story of poverty and resilience, Betty is inspired by generations of Tiffany McDaniel’s own family. Despite the violence from both within and without her home, Betty’s curiosity and love, paired with her father’s stories, inspires her to write. Heartbreaking and magical, Betty will enthrall readers and transport them to the rolling foothills of Appalachia. 

This multigenerational saga is as unforgettable as it is enchanting, illuminating the fates that span five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family. Set in 1930s Denver, Luz “Little Light” Lopez has visions that drive her to investigate her ancestors’ origins. As she collects these memories, it becomes clear that the only one who can save her family stories from disappearing is Luz herself.