Sorrowland

Vern grows up in the Blessed Gardens of Cain, a Black separatist cult run by Reverend Sherman, who forces her into marriage. At fifteen she is pregnant, and she runs into the woods. There she gives birth to twins and names them Howling and Feral.

Living off the land, Vern notices her body changing. Her strength is growing, and so is her ability to heal, in ways she cannot explain. A pale shape she can barely make out moves through the trees and follows her.

She starts to dig into what was done to her, and to the people of Cainland, and why. Along the way she reconnects with an old friend and finds a new community.

The novel is gothic science fiction that blends body horror with magical realism. It draws on the history of American racial violence and medical experimentation. It earned the Otherwise Award for 2021, and in 2022 the Stonewall Book Award (the Barbara Gittings Literature Award).

The question driving it is what was done to Vern's body, and who is still following her.