With regard to racial strife in the US, have you ever wondered, “How in the world did we get here?”  Written by Yaa Gyasi, the novel, Homegoing, provides one answer. The story traces the lives of two half sisters, Effia and Esi, born in the 1700’s in Ghana. Separated while young, they each experience radically different adulthoods. One marries an Englishman and lives in relative wealth in Africa. The other is captured and sent to America, where she and her descendants are enslaved.

The book follows two story lines, one is about Effia’s descendants in Ghana, their struggles with intertribal warfare and hardships under the British. The other story is about Esi’s descendants in America and describes enslaved life in the South and also touches on life during the Civil War, the Great Migration and life in Harlem during the twentieth century.

The writing is wonderful, the characters are memorable and the content is informative. The structure is a challenge. Keep a close eye on the family tree at the front of the book or you will be thoroughly confused. Each chapter is about a specific descendant of either Effia or Esi. As the book progresses, you are cruising through time as well as switching from one family tree branch to the other—so you have to pay attention. Overall, I liked the structure. I liked seeing how the lives of one generation affected the next. However, sometimes I yearned to stay with a character and know more fully about his/her story.

This is a great book. I highly recommend it.