The lives of two half-sisters, born in early colonial Ghana close to the same time but never meeting, take disparate turns: one stays in Africa, raised into a position of relative power; and one travels across the sea on a slave ship, contributing to the foundations of the black experience in America. These are the stories of those sisters and their descendants, told in turn all the way up to the present.

Gyasi's elegant storytelling grounded me in the life of each successive character, and I consistently felt eager to trace each individual's life course through generations. I found myself contextualizing each story using its parent narrative, following the bloodline while keeping its history in mind. This is such a beautiful, important, enlightening book, one which celebrates history (especially that of the marginalized).