The astonishing new novel from two-time National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward ?Leaves you in
awe of the human capacity to not only endure but to ascend back to the light ... Spectacular'
ANTHONY DOERR author of All the Light We Cannot See ?A stunning achievement. Will grip you
from the first word to the last' NATHAN HARRIS author of The Sweetness of Water Let Us
Descend is a reimagining of American slavery as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching.
Searching harrowing replete with transcendent love the novel is a journey from the rice
fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a
Louisiana sugar plantation. Annis sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her is the
reader's guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march Annis
turns inward seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior
grandmother. Throughout she opens herself to a world beyond this world one teeming with
spirits: of earth and water of myth and history spirits who nurture and give and those who
manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent this her fourth novel is
ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation. From one of the most singularly brilliant and
beloved writers of her generation this miracle of a novel inscribes Black American grief and
joy into the very land - the rich but unforgiving forests swamps and rivers of the American
South. Let Us Descend is Jesmyn Ward's most magnificent novel yet a masterwork for the ages.
