A magical magnificent novel that amounts to a secret history of an America we think we know
but never really knew' Marlon James The people of Salt Point are afraid of the world beyond
their rural town. Most of them are born live and die never having gone more than twenty or
thirty miles from houses that are crammed with generations of their families. But something
shifts at the end of summer 1957. Change makes its way to Salt Point. The Kindred sisters -
Ezra and Cinthy - grew up with an abundance of love. Love from their parents who let them
believe that the stories they tell on stars can come true. Love from their neighbours the
Junketts the only other Black family in town whose home is filled with spice-rubbed ribs and
ground-shaking hugs. And love for their adopted hometown of Salt Point a beautiful New England
village perched high up on coastal bluffs. But as the girls hit adolescence their white
neighbours including Ezra's best friend Ruby start to see their maturing bodies and minds in
a different way. And as the news from distant parts of the country fills with calls for freedom
equality and justice for Black Americans the white villagers of Salt Point begin to view the
Kindreds and the Junketts as a threat to their way of life. Amidst escalating violence
prejudice and fear bold Ezra and watchful Cinthy must reach deep inside the wells of love
they've built to commit great acts of heroism and grace on the path to survival. In luminous
richly descriptive writing Promise celebrates one family's story of resistance. It's a book
that will break your heart - and then rebuild it with courage hope and love. 'A novel so
potent one wonders if it's secretly a magic spell' Kiran Desai
