Wow. I received an ARC of The Peach Seed by Anita Gail Jones from @henryholtbooks and I am so thankful. This was an outstanding debut. My son had a friend over one afternoon and I got to spend three hours immersed in this sweeping, multigenerational novel about the Dukes family of Albany, Georgia. 

In the opening pages, readers meet Fletcher Dukes–a widower, father, grandfather, brother in his 70s. He’s taking his older sister Olga to the Piggly Wiggly when he smells a perfume that takes him back to his teenage years. And then, in an aisle of the store, he sees Altovise Benson, his first love. They grew up in Albany during the Civil Rights Movement, marched together, and loved one another fiercely.  Fletcher gives Altovise a delicately carved peach seed monkey (a deeply meaningful piece of family tradition) as a sign of his love. And then suddenly, the summer before college Altovise leaves him behind, never to return or make contact.

Now, many years later, Fletcher isn’t sure what to make of Altovise’s return–should he reach out? Will she reach out? And when she does reach out, she has something life-altering to tell him. And that’s not the only issue weighing on his mind. His grandson and his daughter are struggling with addiction and his older sister is losing her sight due to glaucoma. 

Interwoven between the stories of the Dukes family in 2012, is the story of an enslaved Dukes family ancestor, and we learn how the tradition of the peach seed monkey carvings came to be. 

This is a beautiful work of character driven literary fiction that will stay with me for a long time. The characters ring so true–the dialogue is at times heartbreaking and other times touching and even a little funny. The stories, the secrets, the history, the setting–it’s all fascinating and tugged at my heart. 5 beautiful stars. This publishes August 1, 2023 and I encourage you to get your hands on a copy.