In the swamp-thick air of Africatown, where humidity sticks to the skin like a shroud, the ghosts of the Clotilda don’t whisper—they weep. They were promised a return home, but Mobile's powerful elite betrayed them, abandoning them to the marshy earth of Prichard. Their resilience built a town, but their sorrow took root in a gnarled, ancient oak they called the Homeward Tree, its branches reaching not for the sky, but back towards Africa.
Now, Imani, a descendant of those last captives, has returned to run a small bed and breakfast on the edge of the bayou, hoping to honor her heritage. But her ancestors' grief is a living thing in this place. She tastes their sorrow in the water and hears their longing in the cicadas' drone. The spirits aren't seeking revenge; they are seeking release, a final journey home the living denied them.
But a powerful family, descended from the very men who broke the promise, wants to bulldoze Africatown for a lucrative port expansion. They see the Homeward Tree as a nuisance and Imani's history as a roadblock to profit. As the tree sickens and the spirits' despair bleeds into the waking world, Imani must uncover the full truth of the betrayal and find a way to fulfill her ancestors' last wish before the bulldozers arrive to erase their memory forever, leaving them chained to a land that was never meant to be their final resting place.
Alabama Gothic is a new series by the Queen of Southern Gothic, M. L. Bullock. Each book is its own trilogy. The books included in this series:
Alabama Gothic: Cahawba
Alabama Gothic: Marion
Alabama Gothic: Selma
Alabama Gothic: Mobile
Now, Imani, a descendant of those last captives, has returned to run a small bed and breakfast on the edge of the bayou, hoping to honor her heritage. But her ancestors' grief is a living thing in this place. She tastes their sorrow in the water and hears their longing in the cicadas' drone. The spirits aren't seeking revenge; they are seeking release, a final journey home the living denied them.
But a powerful family, descended from the very men who broke the promise, wants to bulldoze Africatown for a lucrative port expansion. They see the Homeward Tree as a nuisance and Imani's history as a roadblock to profit. As the tree sickens and the spirits' despair bleeds into the waking world, Imani must uncover the full truth of the betrayal and find a way to fulfill her ancestors' last wish before the bulldozers arrive to erase their memory forever, leaving them chained to a land that was never meant to be their final resting place.
Alabama Gothic is a new series by the Queen of Southern Gothic, M. L. Bullock. Each book is its own trilogy. The books included in this series:
Alabama Gothic: Cahawba
Alabama Gothic: Marion
Alabama Gothic: Selma
Alabama Gothic: Mobile
Used availability for M L Bullock's Mobile