Title: Let Us Descend

Author: Jesmyn Ward

Genre: Historical Fiction/Magical Realism

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Publication Date: 24th October 2023

Rating: 5/5

Cover:

Book Summary:

The first weapon I ever held was my mother’s hand.

On a slave plantation in the Carolinas, Annis has survived in the light of her mother’s resilience, comforted by stories of her African warrior grandmother. Everything she knows, she learned from her mother – how to fight, how to be strong, how to grow up in a world shrouded in darkness.

When she is sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, Annis must venture onward through the rich but unforgiving landscapes of the American South alone: from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans, and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. Searching for relief in memories of her mother, she opens herself to a world beyond her own, teeming with spirits of earth, water, history and myth.

A reimagining of American slavery as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching, Let Us Descend offers a magnificent portrait of the strength of the human spirit and its ability to emerge from darkness into light. This is a story of beauty, love, rebirth and reclamation – a masterwork for the ages.

Review:

Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward is one of my all time favourite books and I am, in fact, yet to read anything written by Ward that isn’t stunning. Her writing is lyrical and transcendent, yet never compromises on raw, brutal power. Let Us Descend is the story of Annis, as she is sold south by the white slaveowner who fathered her and the traumatic and harrowing journey through the South and beyond. The novel is infused with a magical realism aspect that is connected to both the spirit world and to Annis’s mother and grandmother. The strange thing about Let Us Descend is that there are a few moments where I wasn’t 100% sure exactly what was going on because of the spiritual elements and yet it doesn’t matter in the slightest. The writing is so powerful that the feeling and emotion comes through with a razor sharp accuracy and it is impossible not to be drawn in completely to the fluidity of the story. It is a harsh and grim world that Ward describes, as is historically accurate, and whilst there are parts which are difficult to read, Let Us Descend somehow manages to not feel like a depressing or hopeless read. It is a book about survival, devotion and strength of will which I couldn’t recommend more highly.

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I received a copy of the book via Netgalley. My review is entirely my own honest opinion.

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