She worked in the field It was not new to her In Hell she d worked the land too In Hell the sun scorched cotton so hot it almost burned the palms of your hands to touch it Holding those small white puffs almost felt like holding fire but God forbid you let one drop Effie and Esi two sisters with two very different destinies One sold into slavery one a slave trader s wife The consequences of their fates reverberate through the generations that follow Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to a cotton picking plantation in Mississippi from a village missionary school to the dive bars of Harlem spanning three continents and seven generations Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel an intense heartbreaking story of one family and through their lives the very story of America itself Epic in its canvas and intimate in its portraits Homegoing is a novel about how history shapes us all It is a searing and profound debut from a masterly new writer