Angela Flournoy – författare

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

FINALIST FOR THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION

FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITIC CIRCLES AWARD FOR FICTION

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

LONGLISTED FOR THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE

Named one of the Washington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year

One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of the Year

Named a Best of the Year by The New Yorker, The Boston Globe, Publishers Weekly, Vogue, Elle, Time, Kirkus Reviews, Electric Literature, Town & Country, Alta Journal, NPR, New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Book Riot, Audible

Flournoy has delivered a future classicthe kind of novel that generations to come will read to understand the nuances and peculiarities of this time. Harper's Bazaar

An era-defining novel about five Black women over the course of their twenty-year friendship, as they move through the dizzying and sometimes precarious period between young adulthood and midlifein the much-anticipated second book from National Book Award finalist Angela Flournoy.

Desiree, January, Monique, and Nakia are in their early twenties and at the beginning. Of their careers, of marriage, of motherhood, and of big-city lives in New York and Los Angeles. Together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthoodoverwhelming, mysterious, and full of freedom and consequencesswoops in and stays.

Desiree is estranged from her sister Danielle, and the two nurse bitter family wounds in different ways. January's got a relationship with a ';good' man she feels ambivalent about, even after her surprise pregnancy. Monique, a librarian and aspiring blogger, finds unexpected online fame after calling out the university where she works for its plans to whitewash fraught history. And Nakia is trying to get her restaurant off the ground, without relying on the largesse of her upper middle-class family who wonder aloud if she should be doing something better with her life.

As these friends move from the late 2000's into the late 2020's, from young adults to grown women, they must figure out what they mean to one anotheramid political upheaval, economic and environmental instability, and the increasing volatility of modern American life.

The Wilderness is Angela Flournoy's masterful and kaleidoscopic follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut The Turner House. A generational talent, she captures with disarming wit and electric language how the most profound connections over a lifetime can lie in the tangled, uncertain thicket of friendship.

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST

A New York Times Notable Book • An Amazon Top 100 Editors' Pick of the Year

Named a Best Book of the Year by O, The Oprah Magazine • Entertainment Weekly • NPR • Essence • Men’s Journal • Buzzfeed • Bustle • Time Out • Denver Post • Publishers Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • BookPage • Literary Hub • Kobo • The Week • Detroit Free Press

Winner of the Paterson Fiction Prize and the Black Caucus of the ALA—1st Novelist Award

Nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award, the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Debut Author, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction

Finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the Indies Choice Award

Short-listed for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Ernest Gaines Award, The Morning News Tournament of Books, the Winter Lariat List, and the Medici Book Club Prize

Long-listed for the NBCC John Leonard Prize for A Debut Novel and the Chautauqua Prize

A powerful debut, The Turner House marks a major new contribution to the story of the American family.

The Turners have lived on Yarrow Street for over fifty years. Their house has seen thirteen children grown and gone—and some returned; it has seen the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit’s East Side, and the loss of a father. The house still stands despite abandoned lots, an embattled city, and the inevitable shift outward to the suburbs. But now, as ailing matriarch Viola finds herself forced to leave her home and move in with her eldest son, the family discovers that the house is worth just a tenth of its mortgage. The Turner children are called home to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts haunts—and shapes—their family’s future.

Praised by Ayana Mathis as “utterly moving” and “un-putdownable,” The Turner House brings us a colorful, complicated brood full of love and pride, sacrifice and unlikely inheritances. It’s a striking examination of the price we pay for our dreams and futures, and the ways in which our families bring us home.

‘Humorous yet devastating... I loved this book'' - BRIT BENNETT

‘Flournoy is singular'' - RAVEN LEILANI

''Flournoy has a long-lens talent'' - ELEANOR CATTON

''A triumphant whirlwind of a novel'' - NAMWALI SERPELL

''One of the wisest, most talented authors working today'' - JUSTIN TORRES

In 2008, Desiree, January, Monique and Nakia are in their early twenties and at the beginning. Of their careers, of marriage, of motherhood and of big city lives in New York and Los Angeles. Together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthood – overwhelming, mysterious and full of freedom and consequences – swoops in and stays.

Desiree is estranged from her sister Danielle, and the two nurse bitter family wounds in different ways. January''s got a relationship with a ''good'' man she feels ambivalent about, even after her surprise pregnancy. Monique, a librarian and aspiring blogger, finds unexpected online fame after calling out the university where she works for its plans to whitewash fraught history. And Nakia is trying to get her restaurant off the ground, without relying on the largesse of her upper middle-class family who wonder aloud if she should be doing something better with her life.

As these friends transition from young adults to grown women, they must figure out what they mean to one another – amid political upheaval, economic and environmental instability and the increasing volatility of modern life.

In The Wilderness, Angela Flournoy captures with disarming wit and electric language how life''s most profound connections can lie in the tangled, uncertain thicket of friendship. It''s The Vanishing Half meets The Most Fun We Ever Had, with notes of Girl, Woman, Other.

''A future classic'' - HARPER''S BAZAAR

''Flournoy inhabits a quartet of shifting perspectives with wit, tenderness and exquisite grace... Evokes the hushed, disconsolate quality of [Toni] Morrison'' - NEW YORK TIMES

''A fascinating look at lasting friendships... Vivid'' - WASHINGTON POST

''A triumph'' - LA TIMES

''Flournoy beautifully renders how love - though at times thorny and confusing - is the one thing that keeps us connected'' - TIME (The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025)

***** 5-STAR READER REVIEWS FOR THE WILDERNESS *****''Every heartbreak, triumph and turn of the text I actually felt in my body''''Wow, this book… So real and raw''''If you believe in the power of sisterhood, this is an unforgettable must-read''''Will make you laugh, ache and long for your own family and friends''''Captures the complexities of lifelong friendships with remarkable depth''''One of my best books of the year, hands down''

This novel contains references to assisted dying and drug use, and depictions of violence, death, and police brutality.