Tracing the descendants of two women across seven generations, this unflinching debut from Ghanaian-American author Yaa Gyasi examines the lingering effects of slavery from the 18th-century Gold Coast to the US at the turn of the 21st century
Financial Times
Ambition and talent don't always go hand-in-hand; here they unquestionably do
Daily Mail
Astoundingly ambitious
... Read moreNew Books
Entwining history, politics and personal events, this is an ambitious novel that is, and will continue to be, highly culturally relevant
Big Issue
Gyasi's widescreen view of history powerfully drives home her view that we are all responsible for ourselves and for each other ... a highly compassionate feat of storytelling
Metro
A confident, vivid, engrossingtale [that] winds towards a moving conclusion
Radio Times
Gyasi's debut novel has a distinctive strength and courage ... a descendent of Alex Haley's Roots and Toni Morrison's Beloved, an extended response to Joyce Carol Oates's Last Hundred Years trilogy
Times Literary Supplement
The structure is fantastically strong, but it would have been nothing without Gyasi's ability to bring each character alive. At every turn she resists cliche and dogma ... she deftly weaves in just enough historical information without sacrificing its complexity ... Homegoing has something better than perfection, and that is a touch of magic... [Gyasi is] the right artist at the right time
Alice O'Keefe
New Statesman
A wonderfully evocative and compassionate novel - one that shows deftness, depth and maturity. Homegoing is a gift to its readers and a treasure to cherish
Petina Gappah
Financial Times
An epic saga
Scotsman
Through her words we come to understand parts of history that are sometimes ignored
Pride
Gyasi has created a masterpiece which is educational, highly ambitious and extremely touching
The i
Hands down the best book I've read in months...I can't wait to see what Yaa Gyasi does next
Grazia
Here is a book to help us remember. It is well worth its weight
Guardian
A bold and ambitious debut...full of fire and youthful confidence
Daily Express
This unputdownable tale spans three continents and seven generations to tell the story of a family and of America itself
Reader's Digest
The hype is justified
Emerald Street
Extraordinary
Glamour
It is written with such maturity and beauty, that it is hard to believe it is Gyasi's first published work...Gyasi has created a masterpiece which is educational, highly ambitious and extremely touching. Her writing style is raw and intense and leaves one desperate to see what work she will produce in the future
Press Association
Ambitious, superbly written, important - don't miss this one
Woman & Home
A searing indictment of racism and a very impressive debut
Sunday Express
A fascinating view of the history of slavery...Gyasi gives voice to suppressed stories, and that feels hugely important....it certainly deserves our attention
Sunday Times
The powerful narrative of Yaa Gyasi's accomplished first novel do more than reveal the history that still troubles the United States. They make that history immediate
Harper's Bazaar
An astonishing epic debut
Observer
Toni Morrison's Beloved spoke to a generation. Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing will do the same for a new one. In a word, it's brilliant. And not just for a debut
The Pool
Vivid and ambitious debut
Sunday Express
Brilliant
Sunday Telegraph
Intriguing debut...a noble enterprise
Mail on Sunday An epic debut novel
Good Housekeeping
Homegoing is remarkable...the writing at the end of the book is every bit as vital as that at the start...she has produced a contemporary classic - one you'll actually want to read
Daily Mail
Hugely courageous and really important
Sathnam Sanghera A very, very fine piece of work...it's the kind of book I'd press into the hands of a teenager or someone in their early 20s who has been asking questions about the world and say if you want to know why the world is this way, try this book for starters
Naomi Alderman While the issues she wrestles with are heavy, her writing is a joy....Now, more than ever, we need books like this one
Red
A future classic and a novel that you'll want to pass on to everyone you know...the real deal...2017 is set to be the year of Homegoing
Stylist
Gyasi imbues indigenous life with richness and dignity, in a style that owes something - though by no means everything - to Chinua Achebe...it serves as the engine for a powerful message
Daily Telegraph
Gyasi's remarkable debut novel.... is a devastating account of America....a quality that distinguishes Homegoing is its empathetic capacity to explore horror without ever losing sight of humanity or hope
Sunday Times 3 To Watch
Encompassing events major and minor, but skilfully skipping the civil war, it humanises big issues by giving us unforgettable characters. It could not be more relevant or needed
Damian Barr
Observer Books of the Year
This is, hand on heart, a completely brilliant novel...a brilliant debut. If this isn't shortlisted for some prizes next year, I'll be disappointed
Stylist's pick of the best new books for 2017
Homegoing is stunning - a truly heartbreaking work of literary genius
Bustle
Spectacular
Taiye Selasi Terrific
Ann Patchett Rarely does a grand, sweeping epic plumb interior lives so thoroughly. Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing is a marvel
Shelf Awareness
Rich, epic. . . Each chapter is tightly plotted, and there are suspenseful, even spectacular climaxes
New York Magazine
A bold tale of slavery for a new 'Roots' generation
Washington Post
[A] sprawling epic... brims with compassion... In Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi has given rare and heroic voice to the missing and suppressed
NPR
Tremendous...spectacular...[Homegoing is] essential reading from a young writer whose stellar instincts, sturdy craftsmanship and penetrating wisdom seem likely to continue apace - much to our good fortune as readers
San Francisco Chronicle
A hypnotic debut novel by... a stirringly gifted young writer
New York Times Book Review
Yaa Gyasi establishes herself as an exciting new literary voice with a powerful debut
BookPage
Epic...astonishing...page-turning
Entertainment Weekly
A memorable epic of changing families and changing nations
Chicago Tribune
Gyasi echoes [James] Baldwin's understanding of a common culture marked by both yearning and pain, in which black people can confront each other across differences and reach a political understanding about what unites them. What distinguishes Gyasi's presentation of this idea is its scope: She does not present us with a single moment, but rather delivers a multigenerational saga in which two branches of a family, separated by slavery and time, emerge from the murk of history in a romantic embrace . . . . . Homegoing is a reminder of the tenacity of fathers and mothers who struggle to keep their kin alive. The novel succeeds when it retrieves individual lives from the oblivion mandated by racism and spins the story of the family's struggle to survive.
Bookforum
Gyasi gives voice, and an empathetic ear, to the ensuing seven generations of flawed and deeply human descendants, creating a patchwork mastery of historical fiction
Elle
Homegoing is an epic novel in every sense of the word - spanning three centuries, Homegoing is a sweeping account of two half-sisters in 18th-century Ghana and the lives of their many generations of descendants in America. A stunning, unforgettable account of family, history, and racism, Homegoing is an ambitious work that lives up to the hype.
Buzzfeed
Rarely does a grand, sweeping epic plumb interior lives so thoroughly. Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing is a marvel.
Dave Wheeler, associate editor, Shelf Awareness [A] commanding debut . . . will stay with you long after you've finished reading. When people talk about all the things fiction can teach its readers, they're talking about books like this
Marie Claire
Homegoing is a remarkable feat - a novel at once epic and intimate, capturing the moral weight of history as it bears down on individual struggles, hopes and fears. A tremendous debut
Phil Klay, National Book Award-winning author of Redeployment
The brilliance of this structure, in which we know more than the characters do about the fate of their parents and children, pays homage to the vast scope of slavery without losing sight of its private devastation . . . . [Toni Morrison's] influence is palpable in Gyasi's historicity and lyricism; she shares Morrison's uncanny ability to crystalize, in a single event, slavery's moral and emotional fallout. What is uniquely Gyasi's is her ability to connect it so explicitly to the present day: No novel has better illustrated the way in which racism became institutionalized in this country.
Vogue US
A marvellous novel
Starred Publishers Weekly
Wildly ambitious debut by a 26-year-old writer . . . It's impossible not to admire the ambition and scope of Homegoing . . . By its conclusion, the characters' tales of loss and resilience have acquired an inexorable and cumulative emotional weight
Michiko Kakutani
New York Times
I think I needed to read a book like this to remember what is possible. I think I needed to remember what happens when you pair a gifted literary mind to an epic task. Homegoing is an inspiration
Ta-Nehisi Coates, National Book Award winning author of 'Between the World and Me' Homegoing is one hell of a book... I recommend Homegoing without reservation. Definitely a must read for 2016.
Roxane Gay One of the richest, most rewarding reads of 2016
Elle
Shows the unmistakable touch of a gifted writer
The New Yorker
Homegoing is a novel I wish I could have read when I was a young woman. An intelligent, beautiful and healing read, destined to become a classic
Zadie Smith Show Less