Moonrise Over New Jessup: A Novel by Jamila Minnicks

(Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book!)

 

about book: (summary from Goodreads)

Winner of the 2021 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, a thought-provoking and enchanting debut about a Black woman doing whatever it takes to protect all she loves at the beginning of the civil rights movement in Alabama.
 
It’s 1957, and after leaving the only home she has ever known, Alice Young steps off the bus into the all-Black town of New Jessup, Alabama, where residents have largely rejected integration as the means for Black social advancement. Instead, they seek to maintain, and fortify, the community they cherish on their “side of the woods.” In this place, Alice falls in love with Raymond Campbell, whose clandestine organizing activities challenge New Jessup’s longstanding status quo and could lead to the young couple’s expulsion—or worse—from the home they both hold dear. But as Raymond continues to push alternatives for enhancing New Jessup’s political power, Alice must find a way to balance her undying support for his underground work with her desire to protect New Jessup from the rising pressure of upheaval from inside, and outside, their side of town.

Jamila Minnicks’s debut novel is both a celebration of Black joy and a timely examination of the opposing viewpoints that attended desegregation in America. Readers of Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and Robert Jones, Jr.’s The Prophets will love Moonrise Over New Jessup.

"With compelling characters and a heart-pounding plot, Jamila Minnicks pulled me into pages of history I’d never turned before."  —Barbara Kingsolver 

"An immersive and timely recasting of history by a gloriously talented writer to watch. You will fall in love with New Jessup: the town and the book." 
—Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, author of The Revisioners

my thoughts:

Wow. Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks is a smart, thought-provoking must-read.  I loved it. I think this is an important book - the writing is excellent and the ways in which it explores race, history and community is superb. Moonrise Over New Jessup is classic in my opinion. And, I would wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone. 

Alice finds herself stepping off a bus in the town of New Jessup, Alabama. It's 1957 and the town is all-Black. Founded by freed slaves, the town is bent on segregation - meaning, Blacks only. And she loves it. She finds herself smitten with the town and with one of the founder's relatives.  So, she doesn't leave. She stays in New Jessup and makes a life for herself. Of course, life isn't perfect and soon enough she's having to deal with her husband's political actions, keeping the town of New Jessup safe, and her own beliefs about living in a segregated community. Talk about a book with a purpose. 

Minnicks has written about a topic we are familiar with - the civil rights movement - via a different perspective - from the inside of an all Black town wanting segregation from the white town across the way. It's fascinating and intriguing. I loved the mix of history with Minnick's own take on the subject. And, the characters were the best kind - the type you can't help but get invested in straightaway and have to know what is going to happen to them. I just loved this book to bits. It was such a great reading experience. 

Definitely make sure to get your hands on a copy of Jamila Minnicks' outstanding novel, Moonrise Over New Jessup. You are going to LOVE it!!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book!