Under the Heron's Light
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Inspired by stories about the real-world Great Dismal Swamp, this acclaimed fantasy explores alternate history, a family’s supernatural connections to the swamp, and the strength that comes in knowing your roots, perfect for fan of Judy I. Lin, Jason Reynolds, Ladarrion Williams's Blood at the Root, and Ryan Coogler's Sinners!
★ "A fierce, loving, and exquisite humanity-centered book." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ "Mesmerizing storytelling. . ." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Four thousand six hundred forty-two steps in,” Grannylou interrupted. “You remember that now, Baby. Four-thousand six hundred forty-two steps to paradise.”
On a damp night in 1722, Babylou Mac and her three siblings witness the murder of their mother at the hands of the local preacher’s son—so Babylou kills him in retaliation. With plantation dogs now on their heels, the four siblings breach the treacherous confines of the Great Dismal Swamp. Deeper and deeper into Dismal they delve, amid the biting moccasins and pitch-black waters, toward a refuge where they can live freely within the swamp’s natural—and supernatural—protection.
Three-hundred years later, college student Atlas comes home to North Carolina for the annual Bornday cookout and hog roast: a celebration of the fact that she and her three cousins were all born on the same day nineteen years ago, sharing a birthday with their Grannylou. But this Bornday, Grannylou’s usual riddles and folktales about a marvelous paradise deep in the Great Dismal Swamp start to take on a tangible quality. Change coming.
When Dismal calls, sucking Grannylou in, it’s up to Atlas and her cousins to uncover the history that the black waters hold. Centuries of family tension, with roots all over Virginia and North Carolina, are about to be dug up. Because Babylou and Grannylou are one and the same, and the power she helped cultivate hundreds of years ago—steeped in Black resistance, familial love, and the otherworldly mysteries of the Great Dismal Swamp—is bubbling back up. But so is a bitterness that runs deep as the swamp’s waters. And some are ready to take what they feel they’re owed.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alternating between Black 19-year-old Atlas's first-person POV in the present and her ancestor's third-person perspective in the 1770s, Pink (We Are the Scribes) offers an expansive intergenerational portrait that uses a fantastical lens to highlight the importance of family and knowing one's history. While enslaved on a Virginia plantation in 1722, Babylou and her siblings are devastated by their mother's violent murder. After Babylou uses supernatural powers to kill the white boy responsible, the siblings escape to the Great Dismal Swamp, a living entity that allows them to create a new home for themselves. In preparation for a present-day celebration, Atlas returns to her home near the Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina to celebrate her grandmother Grannylou's birthday. When Grannylou disappears into the swamp, and Atlas discovers that she has the ability to guide others through the marsh, she and her cousins band together to unravel the family secrets embedded in the bog. Mesmerizing storytelling brings together myriad backdrops, characters, storylines, and themes. Pulling inspiration from real events and places, Pink imbues this beguiling dark fantasy with striking texture, adding human elements to the eerie setting via fiercely wrought familial relationships. Ages 13–up.
