A brave triumph of a novel that readers won t forget long after finishing it. The New York
Times Book Review Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by Good Morning America * Essence*
Esquire * The Root * Bustle * Ebony * PopSugar * Ms. * The Millions Finalist for the Reading
the West Book AwardLonglisted for the 2023 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award Bear
it or perish yourself. Those are the words Helen Jean hears that fateful night in her cousin s
outhouse that change the trajectory of her life. Spanning decades Perish tracks the choices
Helen Jean the matriarch of the Turner family makes and the way those choices have rippled
across generations. We meet four members of the Black Texan family: Julie B. a woman who
regrets her wasted youth and the time spent under Helen Jean s thumb Alex a police officer
grappling with a dark and twisted past Jan a mother of two who yearns to go to school and
leave Jerusalem Texas behind for good and Lydia a woman whose marriage is falling apart
because her body can t seem to stay pregnant. Called home to say goodbye to their mother and
grandmother each family member is forced to confront long-kept secrets and ask themselves
important questions about who is deserving of forgiveness and who bears the cross of blame. Set
in vividly drawn Texas this beautiful yet heart-wrenching novel explores the intricacies of
family and the ways bonds can be made maintained or irrevocably broken. This novel will serve
as a hand extended through the darkness to a great many of its readers. Star Tribune
(Minneapolis) Like Walker s The Color Purple and Toni Morrison s The Bluest Eye Perish lures
readers past the pain with a spellbinding buoyant use of language. Texas Monthly Miraculous
and moving light glimmers at the edges of this wise novel. Esquire
