"𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔, 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔. 𝑳𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒃𝒊𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒚. 𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔."

This is the most important historical fiction novel I have ever read. It's going to take me a while to truly process everything.

But for now let me say this: Stories are powerful. They can build empathy and understanding when it is otherwise impossible.

I am a white person. I will never truly understand. And yet, stories like this get me closer. They make it possible for me to listen better, to think more critically about my privilege and power. Because this history isn't just history. It's relevant today.

And yes. This book is beautiful. It's heartbreaking. But more importantly, it's a rally cry. 

And I'm sure other reviews do a better job of talking about everything else that's amazing about this book, but this is the impression it made upon me.