The Revisioners. Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Revisioners is a passionate exploration of liberty, heritage, sisterhood and motherhood in New Orleans . . . Sexton’s characters’ realistic interior thoughts drive the novel, revealing hidden emotions of apprehension and nostalgia . . . The Revisioners is an uplifting novel of black women and their tenacity.”

      —EDITH KANYAGIA, BookPage

      “There are multiple reasons to read a novel by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton. Premium among them are complex characters cut from the richest soil . . . Ultimately, marvelously, The Revisioners is simultaneously authentic, human, grim, and yet, uplifting.”

      —LOU FANCHER, Oakland Magazine

      “A transcendent tale of women’s strength in the face of racial turmoil as it passes through generations.”

      —SUSAN LARSON, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

      “[The Revisioners is] a moving tale of lingering racism past and present, and a family of women healers who try to move beyond it.”

      —SUSAN LARSON, The Reading Life, WWNO

      “I was mesmerized by The Revisioners, a time-bending epic about family, desire, strength, and terror, as well as the possibly supernatural power of the stories we tell ourselves. Was mesmerized? Am mesmerized, will remain mesmerized. Sexton’s novel is extraordinary, and its effects will go on and on.”

      —R. O. KWON, author of The Incendiaries

      “Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s writing is graceful and stylish, her truths relevant and necessary—it’s just so exhilarating to read her. I was mesmerized by The Revisioners, an impeccable novel of magic, loss, and family, all anchored by generations of powerful women.”

      —JAMI ATTENBERG, author of All Grown Up

      “I read this wonderful novel nearly in a single sitting, carried along by its exemplary pacing and structure, its rich cast of characters, and its deft explorations of trauma, cruelty, survival, and love. Written in a haunted present and a past that’s not past, The Revisioners honors the living and the lost in a painful, tender testament to the power of fiction.”

      —LYDIA KIESLING, author of The Golden State

      “This elegant and powerful novel sweeps you up from the very first page, spanning the last gasps of slavery to the present day. The Revisioners by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton plunges you deep within the complexity of a Louisiana family as the echoes of history repeat over generations and provides a powerful testament to the ingenuity and resilience of women protecting themselves and those they love in an unyielding world.”

      —LALITA TADEMY, New York Times bestselling author of Cane River, Red River, and Citizens Creek

      “Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s The Revisioners is a sweeping, deeply felt meditation on sacrifice and survival. Nuanced and elegantly told, The Revisioners reminds us that history is alive and that we should never lose hope.”

      —NATALIE BASZILE, author of Queen Sugar

      “Margaret Wilkerson Sexton has done it again with The Revisioners, where ties beyond family bind us to the past. A novel as beautiful as it is hauntingly dazzling, it’s filmic in scope and sensory detail.”

      —NAFISSA THOMPSON-SPIRES, author of Heads of the Colored People

      “In paying homage to the triumph of black women who survived and even thrived in a society built to deny them dignity, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton has written an astonishing novel. The Revisioners is nothing less than a rare celebration of the power of women and mothers to build a better future. Sexton’s style is fluid and seamless, and readers will find themselves hoping to meet Ava and Josephine in real life.”

      —MAURICE CARLOS RUFFIN, author of We Cast a Shadow

      ALSO BY MARGARET WILKERSON SEXTON

       A Kind of Freedom

      The Revisioners

      Copyright © 2019 by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

      First hardcover edition: 2019

      First paperback edition: 2020

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events is unintended and entirely coincidental.

      The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover as follows:

      Names: Sexton, Margaret Wilkerson, author.

      Title: The revisioners : a novel / Margaret Wilkerson Sexton.

      Description: First hardcover edition. | Berkeley, California : Counterpoint, 2019.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019008282 | ISBN 9781640092587

      Subjects: LCSH: Women—Fiction. | Race relations—Fiction. | African American families—Fiction. | Domestic fiction.

      Classification: LCC PS3619.E9838 R48 2019 | DDC 813/.6—dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019008282

      Paperback ISBN: 978-1-64009-426-0

       Cover design by Jaya Miceli

       Book design by Jordan Koluch

      COUNTERPOINT

      2560 Ninth Street, Suite 318

      Berkeley, CA 94710

       www.counterpointpress.com

      Printed in the United States of America

      10987654321

      For my ancestors, especially my father

      I go forth alone, and stand as ten thousand.

      MAYA ANGELOU

      Contents

Ava 2017

Josephine 1924

Josephine 1855

Ava 2017

       Josephine 1924

       Josephine 1855

       Josephine 1924

       Josephine 1855

       Ava 2017