Preview

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Moonrise over New Jessup

By: Jamila Minnicks
Narrated by: Karen Chilton
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.83

Buy for $21.83

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Winner of the 2021 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, a thought-provoking and enchanting debut about a Black woman doing whatever it takes to protect all she loves at the beginning of the civil rights movement in Alabama.

It’s 1957, and after leaving the only home she has ever known, Alice Young steps off the bus into the all-Black town of New Jessup, Alabama, where residents have largely rejected integration as the means for Black social advancement. Instead, they seek to maintain, and fortify, the community they cherish on their “side of the woods.” In this place, Alice falls in love with Raymond Campbell, whose clandestine organizing activities challenge New Jessup’s longstanding status quo and could lead to the young couple’s expulsion—or worse—from the home they both hold dear. But as Raymond continues to push alternatives for enhancing New Jessup’s political power, Alice must find a way to balance her undying support for his underground work with her desire to protect New Jessup from the rising pressure of upheaval from inside, and outside, their side of town.

Jamila Minnicks’s debut novel is both a celebration of Black joy and a timely examination of the opposing viewpoints that attended desegregation in America. Fans of Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and Robert Jones, Jr.’s The Prophets will love Moonrise over New Jessup.

"With compelling characters and a heart-pounding plot, Jamila Minnicks pulled me into pages of history I’d never turned before."—Barbara Kingsolver

"An immersive and timely recasting of history by a gloriously talented writer to watch. You will fall in love with New Jessup: the town and the book."—Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, author of The Revisioners

©2023 Jamila Minnicks (P)2023 Algonquin Books
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Critic reviews

"My favorite novels light up my brain with things I hadn’t considered before–and this one does exactly that. The deep complexity of the American Civil Rights movement; the various, sometimes opposing approaches of its leaders to desegregation; the gains and inevitable casualties that social progress can claim. With compelling characters and a heart-pounding plot, Jamila Minnicks pulled me into pages of history I’d never turned before."—Barbara Kingsolver

“I was awestruck by its beauty, rapt by its originality, and astounded by its depth. But what astonished me most was learning that this is a debut. The craftwork is extraordinary. Was this book dreamed into existence? Did the Ancestors themselves place this story in the writer’s mind? From page one, I knew this work would transform me. It expanded the way I imagine what is possible in the art form. More than interesting, it is integral. More than important, it is inspiring. Read this book. Cherish it. Protect it. You must. Right out of the gate, Jamila Minnicks’s Moonrise Over New Jessup is a masterpiece.”—Robert Jones, Jr., author of The New York Times bestselling novel The Prophets

"Elegant and nuanced, Moonrise over New Jessup is an incandescent work of art through-and-through, from a powerful new voice."—Jason Mott, author of National Book Award winner Hell of a Book

What listeners say about Moonrise over New Jessup

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    86
  • 4 Stars
    31
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    93
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    73
  • 4 Stars
    25
  • 3 Stars
    10
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful!

What a remarkable and beautiful debut novel. I couldn’t stop listening and can’t wait to read/hear what Jamila Minnicks publishes next. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this gets made into a movie.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Spellbinding

I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful story. It was eye opening, offering a different insight into desegregation and life in the late 1950s in Alabama. The narrator is perfect!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful Language and Imagery

Gripping story. Complex characters. Uplifting. Interesting insight into part of American history. I really enjoyed it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Portal to Home

Loved! Filled a place inside my soul
that had been shut away. My people...Home...Harambe

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A new perspective

Loved everything but the ending. Wish there was a sequel. I want to know more about these characters & how it all worked out for them. Despite that I would recommend the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful!

Although the pain of the Black experience in this country is difficult to learn about and understand in depth, this story is well told, and there is so much joy in it as well. The narrator was perfect and I’ll be looking for more by this author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Moving story about family choices

The author and the reader quickly drew me into a story about the life of a young black woman living in the segregated south in the late 1950s. It was moving and eye opening as she faced the struggles of doing what is best for the people she loved and the town she loved.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Unflinching…

The moment Alice stepped off the bus and into New Jessup, I knew we were home. From cover to cover her story is a daring vision, courageously told.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The best narrator I’ve heard!

An excellent and timely story with a perspective on desegregation that I, as a liberal, northern white woman had never considered. Jamila Minnicks is a beautiful writer, crafting her words like an exquisite tapestry of soul, while Karen Chilton’s mesmerizing voice enhances the narrative like a choir does a church service. Really wonderful all the way around.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Kerry

I read and listened and this book is nothing short of amazing! Brilliant is the word that comes to my mind and I feel so blessed to have been able to experience this truly joy filled creation! Oh that we would all find our New Jessup!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful