Junie

In Eckstine’s finely crafted debut, an enslaved teen girl uncovers secrets about her family in 1860 Alabama. Junie labors with several relatives on a plantation, which is being run into the ground by its alcoholic owner, William McQueen. When Junie’s older sister, Minnie, dies of fever after rescuing Junie from a river she’d fallen into, she’s wracked with guilt. Junie serves as maid to William’s 17-year-old daughter, Violet, whom William and his wife hope will marry wealthy Louisiana cotton merchant Beauregard Taylor. Junie learns that if the marriage goes through, she’ll be forced to accompany Violet to New Orleans and leave her family behind. Distraught, she makes a late-night visit to Minnie’s grave. When she opens the small jar of Minnie’s favorite things left there by her relatives, she inadvertently summons Minnie’s ghost. It turns out Minnie is caught in the In-Between, which holds the spirits of Black people who have left their earthly missions undone. Minnie asks Junie to help free her spirit by locating a small box she has hidden in the plantation house. Junie succeeds, and finds evidence that her family and the McQueens are linked in ways she never imagined, which, along with news of Violet’s engagement, drive her desire to escape. The complex plot and righteous protagonist will keep readers turning the pages. Eckstine evokes the earthly and supernatural to equally powerful effect in this richly layered tale. (Feb.)