Kalisha Buckhanon burst onto the literary scene with Upstate and Conception, and now, she is back with a brand-new adult novel for fans of Toni Morrison and James Baldwin

Solemn Redvine is a precocious Mississippi girl who senses a baby just born in her town may be her half-sibling: the outcome of her father’s mistakes with a married woman who lives in their trailer park. After Solemn witnesses a man throw the baby down a community well, she struggles to understand the event, leaving her forever changed.

As Solemn finds refuge in fantasies of stardom as well as friendships with her brother’s wife and a nearby girl, the ill-fated baby’s doomed mother disappears without a trace. Solemn remains trapped by connections to the missing woman and an honest cop who suspects more to the story than others on the small local police force want to see. When her father’s next mistake—a robbery—lands Solemn in a group home for troubled girls, she meets a Chicago delinquent who wants to escape. There, Solemn must face the truth of who she really is and what she is really made of.

 

Kalisha Buckhanon is author of the novels Upstate and Conception. Her short stories are widely published in many online and university print literary journals. Her articles and essays appear on several popular women’s blogs and cultural websites. Her writing awards include an American Library Association ALEX Award, Friends of American Writers Award, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, and Terry McMillan Young Author Award. Kalisha’s work has received attention in major media outlets such as Essence, The Guardian, BBC-London, TV-One, People, Elle, Entertainment Weekly and Marie Claire. She has an M.F.A. from The New School in New York City, and her B.A. and M.A. in English from University of Chicago. She writes at her blog Negression.com and her website is Kalisha.com.

 

“The story’s compassionate tone and rich characters will recommend it to fans of family fiction and Buckhanon’s earlier work.” —Booklist

“Buckhanon’s outstanding writing fills this work with wonderfully evocative phrasing that will linger with readers...this work earns a place alongside James Hannaham’s Delicious Foods as top-notch literary fiction sending a message about African American struggles in the 21st century.” —Library Journal

“Buckhanon crafts a hypnotic tale, poetically conjuring the intricate workings of Solemn’s thoughts and ghostly visitations.” —Kirkus Reviews

“This standout novel is anchored by its vulnerable and brave heroine.” —Publishers Weekly

“Solemn is beautifully written in lyrically beautiful, poetic language…the story starts off with a traumatic event that successfully weaves its tendrils throughout the rest of the book.” —RT Book Reviews

“A searing story…fueled by emotion.” —Bustle

“Reading this story, I found it difficult (though ridiculously unfair) not to think of Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye, not only because Solemn is told in a similar, fragmented style but also because both center on young, black girls wounded by the actions of those closest to them.” —The Washington Post

“Kalisha Buckhanon has no problem taking readers into the lives of those we often pass by. Take her searing new effort, Solemn.” —Essence Magazine

“In this lyrical, haunting coming-of-age story, Solemn struggles to find identity and a way forward in the face of poverty and disenfranchisement.”—The University of Chicago Magazine

“Solemn is a topical and timely exploration of the way one vulnerable African-American girl living in a trailer park in Mississippi navigates the world around her.”—Citizen-Times

“Solemn is a beautifully written, poetic novel that explores the African-American struggle through a young girl from Mississippi.”—Pride Magazine, UK

“If the book’s riveting cover of a wild-haired girl with layers of pine trees and shining light from a silvery trailer don’t draw you in, then Solemn’s plight to experience the world beyond her Mississippi community will.”—Deep South