Edward P. Jones Books in Order

Fourteen stories follow Black residents of Washington, D.C., far from the institutions that define its public image. Through family ties, friendship, loss and memory, Jones portrays people trying to preserve a sense of belonging as their lives change.

After formerly enslaved plantation owner Henry Townsend dies, the order he established begins to unravel. Enslaved people, relatives, and neighbors navigate the relationships and betrayals sustained by slavery in nineteenth-century Virginia.

Fourteen stories explore Black life in Washington, D.C., where Southern traditions meet the pressures of the city. Across generations, ordinary people navigate family obligations, unsettling encounters and uncertain futures while carrying the enduring consequences of the past.