Several short stories and one big novella, this collection is a tour de force debut. All the stories revolve around Virginia in some way, shape, or form, and all address issues of race. It's timely and gripping.

While all the stories engage with clever storylines and intricately observed comments on race and racism in America, the novella, My Monticello is the star of this collection. In a not-to-distant future, a young Black woman named Da'Naisha and her mostly BIPOC neighbors living in Charlottesville, VA, escape white militia violence and end up finding refuge in Monticello. Da'Naisha and her grandmother, MaViolet, are descendents of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemmings.

Through Da'Naisha and her companions' experiences at Monticello, readers learn about Thomas Jefferson's muddled relationship to slavery. This story also is eerily prescient based on real-life experiences of today. The white militia has formed a group that's hell-bent on destroying POC and their homes, the members marked by blue bands on their arms. The country has "lost" the electric grid, phones don't work, devastating storms have decimated many parts of the land, and there are mentions of the government doing nothing to help with any of it. Many of the things Americans are decrying and warning about today--white supremacist violence, racism, climate change, the breakdown of public services like an electrical grid and cell phone capabilities--have come true in this story, and it's pretty bleak. This story is part warning, part character study, and part dystopian thriller. It was riveting.

Johnson's collection is a must-read. Highly recommend.