Ours

The ambitious and lyrical debut novel from poet Williams (Mutiny) portrays a Missouri town populated by formerly enslaved people who’ve escaped their bonds with help from a conjurer. The epic begins in 1834, north of St. Louis, when a free Black woman named Saint manages to purchase a plot of land in Graysville, a community planned for white people, by offering $1,500 against an asking price of $200. After the sale is completed, the white residents flee, and Saint renames the town Ours. She then frees all the enslaved people at six plantations by casting a spell on the white owners that renders them fatally ill. The town continues to grow and remains unmolested because Saint’s spells, which she was never properly trained to use, have inadvertently caused a “white plague” that causes the deaths of all local white people who believe Black folks are inferior. By the late 1840s, Saint’s prohibition on leaving the town causes residents to question whether they’re truly free, and she faces scrutiny for her imperfect conjuring abilities. The story runs on a bit too long, but the prose is often lively (newly liberated children “moved in the heat, the fire yanking sweat from their bodies, their naked feet sliding on the grass”). Williams’s accomplished narrative leaves readers with much to ponder. Agent: Bill Clegg, Clegg Agency. (Feb.)