Dominion - by Addie E Citchens (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A novel with a big cast, Dominion explores the lies and complicity of a Baptist church and the family that leads it: a philandering minister, a pill-popping first lady, and a favorite son whose fall will expose them all"--

Book Synopsis

Short-listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction
Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
A Best Book of the Year: Elle, Garden & Gun, Electric Literature, Debutiful
A Must-Read: New York, People, NPR, Literary Hub, Jezebel, The Millions, Southern Living, Clarion Ledger, Southern Review of Books, BookBrowse
An Indies Introduce and Indie Next Pick
A Publishers Weekly Writer to Watch
A finalist for the 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prize's Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction

"A razor-sharp Southern family drama." --People

Reverend Sabre Winfrey, Jr., shepherd of the Seven Seals Missionary Baptist Church, believes in God, his own privilege, and enterprise. He owns the barbershop and the radio station, and generally keeps an iron hand on every aspect of society in Dominion, Mississippi. He and his wife, Priscilla, have five boys; the youngest, Emanuel, is called Wonderboy--no one sings prettier, runs as fast, or turns as many heads. But Wonderboy, his father, and all the structures in place that keep them on top are not as righteous as they seem to be. And when Wonderboy is caught off guard by an encounter with a stranger, he finds himself confronted by questions he'd never imagined. His response sends shock waves through the entire community.

Priscilla and Diamond, two women who love these men, bear witness to their charms and bear the brunt of their choices. Through their eyes and their stories, Dominion offers an intricate, intimate view of how secrets control us, how shame stifles us, how silence implicates us, and how even love plays a role in the everyday violence and casual sins of the powerful.

A brilliantly crafted Black Southern family drama told with the captivating force, humor, and tenderness carried in the hearts of these women, Addie E. Citchens's Dominion wrestles with the many brutal, sinister ways in which we are shaped by fear and patriarchy, and studies how we might yet choose to break free.

Review Quotes

"[Told] with ferocity and flair . . . Explosive."
--NPR

"Remarkable . . . This debut novel sing[s]."
--Lauren Puckett-Pope, Elle

"I stayed up into the hours . . . [Dominion] is heartbreaking and funny."
--Xochitl Gonzalez, The Today Show

"Dominion may remind readers of Zora Neale Hurston's work . . . [It effortlessly conveys] history, personality and desire."
--John Brandon, The New York Times Book Review

"Delicious."
--Nora Biette-Timmons, Jezebel

"One hell of a novel . . . [It] will grab you in the gut and hold you there . . . Absolutely outstanding."
--Roxane Gay, author of Opinions

"Extraordinary . . . A soaring, yet intimate novel exploring how shame and secrets control and stifle our humanity . . . [and] illuminating a different, freer path forward."
--Denne Michele Norris, Electric Literature

"Hilarious and heartbreaking, touching and terrifying--made all the more thrilling by the knowledge that you're reading only the first novel by an audacious Southern genius."
--C. Morgan Babst, Garden & Gun

"Utterly assured . . . [It] simply crackles."
--Brittany Allen, Literary Hub

"Fantastic . . . A perfect capsule of real life."
--Sarah Gregg, NPR

"A stellar Southern drama of secrets and sin . . . This Faulknerian, God-troubled novel is an earthly scorcher."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Soaring . . . Stunning."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Beautiful . . . Propulsive . . . [An] excellent debut."
--Clint Smith, author of How the Word Is Passed (on Instagram)

"The kind of book people will be talking about for a long time to come."
--BookBrowse

"A powerful cultural analysis of masculinity, sexuality, and spirituality."
--BookPage (starred review)

"Fresh and surprising . . . A winning debut."
--Booklist

"A wise, sophisticated, and impressively crafted novel of secrets, longing, and strength."
--Angela Flournoy, author of The Wilderness

"This is the rarest and finest kind of storytelling . . . [and] the most audacious artistry . . . My god, we are lucky."
--Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

"It's rare that a debut author produces a work of such tenderness and ferocity, but that's what Addie E. Citchens has done in her unforgettable Dominion."
--Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of The American Daughters

"I laughed and cried with and even prayed over these characters. I could not stop turning the pages . . . Addie E. Citchens is a world-changing writer."
--Alexis Pauline Gumbs, author of Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

"An unforgettable work of art . . . Incandescent."
--Annell López, author of I'll Give You a Reason

"Mississippi is a mystifying language. In Dominion, Addie E. Citchens speaks it with a dazzling tongue. The book is at once ancestral and newborn, drunk with sugary grits beauty and sobering with a Black woman's truth."
--Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

"Looka here, Dominion is the Black-ass book we needed--from the collective storytelling to the language to the big love we have for one another. Addie E. Citchens tells stories like my aunts and uncles playing spades, toggling unexpectedly between subtlety and explosiveness, with a side of good ol' shit-talking and a deep knowing."
--Steven Dunn, author of Potted Meat

About the Author

Addie E. Citchens was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and lives in New Orleans. A graduate of Jackson State University, she studied in the Florida State University Creative Writing Program and the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, the Oxford American's "Best of the South," Midnight & Indigo's speculative fiction anthology, and other publications. Her blues history work features prominently in Mississippi Folklife, and she has been heard on The Mississippi Arts Hour on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. She was the inaugural recipient of the Farrar, Straus and Giroux Writer's Fellowship, and her short story "That Girl" won the O. Henry Prize. Dominion is her first novel.