"A young woman descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings driven from her neighborhood by a white militia. A university professor studying racism by conducting a secret social experiment on his own son. A single mother desperate to buy her first home even as the world hurtles toward catastrophe. Each fighting to survive in America. Tough-minded, vulnerable, and brave, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson's precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. Set in the near future, the eponymous novella, "My Monticello," tells of a diverse group of Charlottesville neighbors fleeing violent white supremacists. Led by Da'Naisha, a young Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, they seek refuge in Jefferson's historic plantation home in a desperate attempt to outlive the long-foretold racial and environmental unravelling within the nation. In "Control Negro," hailed by Roxane Gay as "one hell of story," a university professor devotes him

"A young woman descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings driven from her neighborhood by a white militia. A university professor studying racism by conducting a secret social experiment on his own son. A single mother desperate to buy her first home even as the world hurtles toward catastrophe. Each fighting to survive in America ... In the novella 'My Monticello,' a diverse group of Charlottesville neighbors flee violent white supremacists and seek refuge in Jefferson's historic plantation home as they attempt to outlive a long-foretold racial and environmental unraveling. In 'Control Negro,' a Black professor clinically observes his son from birth through young adulthood, comparing him to a group of average ACMs (American Caucasian males). In each story, Johnson reveals intimate moments within the nation's multitudes, whether in the form of a Nigerian widower who immigrates to the States only to find himself adrift and estranged--even from his children-or a multiracial woman

"An irresistibly accessible yet startlingly bold book of short stories and a novella, inspired by Black lives in America and featuring the gripping eponymous work "My Monticello.""--

In a daring and fierce debut work of fiction, the likes of which come along once in a generation, Virginia's landscapes, emblems, and Thomas Jefferson's historic plantation set the stage for a cast of unforgettable characters fighting for their right to exist in America.