CW: Racism, homophobia, sexual assault, violence, murder, infanticide.

This book is just so beautiful and painful all at the same time.

The Prophets tells the story of Samuel and Isaiah, two young men who have grown up as slaves on a plantation, and through a life of hardship, pain and being treated in the worst ways possible, they found each other and fell in love. Two pieces of one whole. The rest of the plantation don't take much notice of Samuel and Isaiah, leaving them to find peace in a world of pain together, until another slave called Amos begins to preach the Bible and turn the others against them. At the same time, the plantation owner's son, Timothy, comes home and takes an interest in Isaiah that could prove deadly.

I just loved this book so much. The writing and the characters are absolutely exquisite and the way Robert Jones Jr flipped between the story on the plantation to the voice of 'The Prophets' and then also a story from a tribe in Africa where a female King reins with her male wives, and is suspicious of the new skinless wanderers that have appeared . There is so much in this book that is very hard to read - how everyone on the plantation is treated, and the pain and suffering and trauma every character holds inside of themselves is A LOT but it's also full of beautiful moments from friendship, to love and it comes down to the very special bond between Samuel and Isaiah and that how is more than just two people in love but two souls that are one and that should never be parted.

"This was how he would engage in his own bit of rebellion: he leaned against the wooden bit of the fence that surrounded the barn and stared at the heavens. Crowded, he thought, and wondered if, perhaps , the abundance was too much ; if the weight of holding on was too heavy, and the night , being as tired as it was, might one day let go, and all the stars would come tumbling down, leaving only the darkness to stretch across everything."

I also recommend reading Robert Jones Jr acknowledgements at the end of the book as it is definitely one of my favourites I've ever read.

I honestly don’t know how I could put into words how this book made me feel cause no amount is sufficient enough.
From the depth of the characters to the way in which the story weaves slowly throughout, it was agonising and mesmerising all at once. And by the end, I was left emotionally scared.
All I can say is, if you’re in doubt, JUST READ IT! You won’t regret it. .

This is a stunning debut novel from Robert Jones Jr, with a storyline that will stay with me for a very long time to come.

It tells the story of two slaves, Isaiah and Samuel, on a cotton plantation referred to as Empty. Isaiah and Samuel find comfort in each other's arms, providing them with a form of respite from the brutality of life as a slave. There is so much more to this book than just a love story.

This is a beautiful, whilst at the same time heart-breaking book. Jones’s descriptive text is breath-taking in parts. This is a book I will no doubt return to again and again.

Highly recommended, and look forward to more from Robert Jones Jr.

Many thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for the review copy.

I know I've said this in a previous review as well, but OH MAN, what a book this was. Words will truly fail me to review this one for sure. I'll write from my heart and heed my words; Robert Jones Jr is the James Baldwin of our generation. And this is bold statement, one I do not take lightly. The story is told from multiple points of view, intertwined what I initially thought were paraboles, only to identify them as sub-history of what I was actually reading. This is a gut-wrenching tale of two men, whose wrongness was but to love each other in this vile, unjust world. The book can be quite harrowing in its depiction of racial injustice, so be warned that this is not an easy read to get through. At various moments I could feel my stomach lurch and my heart in pain for what I was reading - without this lessening my awe of the lyricism of the language. Hauntingly beautiful, this is a wonderful novel, a modern masterpiece, and if it's one book you should read this year, let this be it.

My many thanks to Quercus publishing for gifting me with a proof copy also of this amazing book.

This is a book I'll definitely be thinking about for a long time, and I can definitely say it's not like anything else I've read. The Prophets is set on a plantation in the American South called Empty. Isaiah and Samuel are both slaves working with the animals there and have secretly been in a relationship for several years. Over time, people begin to discover the nature of their transgressive relationship which sets off a chain of events that puts the two men in danger and disrupts the power system on the plantation.
I wasn't as drawn to Isaiah and Samuel as I was the female characters such as Maggie or Sarah or Be Auntie, but as the book went on I realized that this was because the women were more attuned to their cultures before being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Through them we learn about one of many communities that were torn apart by slave traders, which had its own language and customs and most interestingly, its own ideas about gender and sexuality that are completely different to the European/Christian ideas that wiped out everything else. The choral narration at various points in the book draw us back to the wealth of rich and vibrant cultures all but wiped out by colonisers and points to an alternative, less binary way of seeing gender, language, history and even time.
I felt the parts about the Isaiah and Samuel, and about the female slaves and the past to be the most engaging but found some of the other sections, about Amos who tries to convert other slaves to Christianity, and the ending of the book to be less compelling and almost over descriptive, obscuring some of the meaning. However, I still underlined so many passages that are written beautifully that I look forward to returning to to unpack.

Kindly sent from the publishing team for an honest review.

The chapters were interesting named and fitted the biblical nuance that shadowed the book.
The book had 2 undertones and topics that were the narrative; slavery and same sex relationships. The author does write the book in such a poetic words that makes it pull on your heart strings.

It did find it a slow read, and too much switching.

The Prophets is a powerful and heart-wrenching debut from Robert Jones Jr., an author who is definitely going places. It's a very intimate novel about slavery and queer men, which is just as devastating as it sounds. But even so, it's such an important read, and one I recommend people read ASAP.

This book is deeply uncomfortable and will have you visibly recoiling, but you can't look away. So many characters are horrific and pure evil, but Jones's writing is so rich and vibrant that you're hooked to the page. And by far the most lovely and hopeful element of all is the wonderful romance that springs between Samuel and Isaiah.

I highly recommend this unforgettable story. Jones is an author that is going to be on my auto-buy list from now on.

This is a love story between Samuel and Isaiah, 2 slaves on a cotton plantation. The book looks at how their relationship is viewed by the others around them.

This book was beautiful and incredible. The writing was perfection and every word seemed so carefully chosen and considered.

At first I was confused by all of the POV’s the story is told from however I loved seeing the story from all the angles this brought. It was great to not just see the slaves views and thoughts but also the ‘masters’ of the plantation.

This book is masterful and deserves all of the praise that it has received.

This is a novel I confess that I struggled with.

I enjoyed the first portion of the novel which gripped me and kept me interested. The relationship of Samuel and Isaiah is beautiful drawn and I'm surprised that this hasn't been done before (unless it has and I've missed it) - this idea of 2 gay black slaves on a plantation. This forbidden love aspect of the novel lends it something more than some of the other books about slavery that I've read - Beloved or The Water Dancer.

That said I struggled with it. I feel like it's overwritten. There are some lovely lyrical passages in this book, but there's also a lot of writing that feels like it's reaching to be special, when it doesn't need too. The times this book is at it's best is when the words are given space on the page, but too often it has a tendency to ramble, and that takes me away from the story and makes me disinterested,

The cast is well drawn and characterisation is very strong, particularly Ruth and Tim, but here too there's just to much of it. This would have been just as good with a much smaller cast, it drowns in it's cacophony of voices, am irony really, when the seven voices of the prophets are actually one of the strongest parts.

It's a shame really, as there is much to be admired here, and I can understand the plaudits that have come it's way, and there should be more books tackling this sort of subject matter in such a brave way, but unfortunately for me, there's just too much of everything and I lost interest along the way.

This should have been a book I loved. A raw, forbidden love story of two young, gay men on a Mississippi plantation tainted by betrayal. Throughout the horrors of slavery, their love seemed to shine through a shitstorm and it's a story like none other that I've read.

But I struggled with it. I found it hard to keep up with the way it was written (this ain't no bad thing - my brain is a little wonky so this is most likely an issue unique to me) and it felt a bit of a slog.

I've bought a copy anyway. A weird thing, I know, but I have every intention of giving it another shot in the future.

As slavery novels goes, this sits somewhere between Beloved (the magic realism) and Homegoing (going back as far as Africa) and recalls both in how it explores generational trauma – emotional scars being even worse than the physical ones. The only facts I knew before reading were that it was about two gay slaves and that there were copious biblical references, but those actually amounted to something of a misrepresentation of the contents: Samuel and Isaiah are only two among a large cast of characters on the “Empty” plantation in Mississippi, and actually number among the least interesting figures; and most of the chapters are titled after books of the Bible or other biblical names and phrases, but don’t seem to mean that much in context (apart from, e.g., the “Exodus” chapter, which features a slave revolt), so it’s best not to waste time trying to work out one-to-one connections.

What I found most interesting was how Jones traces the enslaved back to Africa, conjuring up a female-led tribe where women are kings and same-sex marriages are common. (The slaves still call the masters “toubab” – a West African word for white people.) Through these scenes and through the very existence of Samuel and Isaiah (as well as Sarah, a lesbian slave), he reminds us that homosexuals have always been there, even if the history books did not record them. The strategy is similar to that in Sebastian Barry’s Days Without End: to normalize queerness in historical fiction. After all, sexuality has changed over time and differs by culture; it was only with the spread of Christianity, as with the missionaries we see meeting the king in the first Africa scene, that notions of deviance started to arise. The specific threat that Samuel and Isaiah pose to the plantation owners is that they will not, indeed cannot, take part in the forced breeding program to produce more slaves.

I particularly enjoyed the short, poetic sections in the first person plural, voiced by ancestral witnesses. The plot itself didn’t keep me interested much past the first third of the book, such that overall I would call the book overhyped. When Jones is waxing lyrical, he tends toward overwriting; when he’s aiming for humble dialect, it can be a little cringe-inducing (“honey chile” and the like). A glance at the (10-page, single-spaced) acknowledgments tells you all you need to know about how indulgent this project was for him. Read it as one of the many other slavery novels out there, if you wish, but perhaps don’t expect any great revelations. (3.5 stars)

I really enjoyed this book. Two enslaved young men - Samuel and Isaiah - live on a plantation in Nississippi and have a relationship. While at the beginning it seems people who know turn a blind eye quickly the rumour spreads and it reaches an awful climax at the end of the novel.
The many biblical references mostly escaped me - while I understood some of them, I think as someone raised with no religion, a lot of them I just did not see or recognize. The characters I found interesting - there were many of them but they all felt very distinct, individual. The reason why I do not want to give it five stars is the fact that some passages I found too obscure, too lyrical - maybe just trying too hard. The tone of the book is definitely quite lyrical and poetic and this works well mostly, but at times, the brief chapters between the main plot were lost on me - I was unsure who, where and when the action was taking place and I got a bit bored.
But overall I also loved the story, the depictions of abuse and cruelty and slavery that were written in a way that felt kind to the main characters and sensitive, and heartbreaking at the same time. There are many excellent chapters and wonderful storytelling here.

"Matching hard for hard did nothing but create wreckage. But being soft, while beautiful, was subject to being torn asunder by the harder thing. What other answer was there then but to be some kind of flexible? Stretch further so that there was too much difficulty in trying to pull you apart?"

An extraordinary reading experience. I could not put this down. I was shattered all the way through. This is poetic, brutal, original and raw storytelling by a writer so firmly in control of his skill. I read much of Isaiah and Samuel's story with a held breath; I copied out long passages, so struck by the mechanics of the language. Just a brilliant piece of work that will have me reflecting for a long time to come.

It has been a few days since I completed The Prophets and it still feels that I will be unable to articulate fully how I felt about this book. I feel this happens to me every so often; that you read something you know is incredibly special and important. A book that everyone should read.
The narrative centres around two slaves, Samuel and Isaiah, on a plantation in Mississippi. Their relationship and the love they have for one another was one of the most poignant representations of a relationship I had ever read. Whilst it is so important to read slave narratives, very often it can feel overwhelming and upsetting. This certainly was the case here. There were moments of horrific violence and unspeakable cruelty however this was not all it was. I felt all the characters and voices in this novel were complex and nuanced making this an exploration and commentary on the definitions of humanity and the motives that lie at the heart of our treatment of others.
Each chapter focusses on a different character’s voice which allows the reader insight into a different perspective and motivation. This, at times, was deeply uncomfortable as we were given access to the ideology and psychology of the white plantation owners. Their perceptions and justifications of the treatment of other humans on the plantation were particularly upsetting and it seemed Robert Jones Jnr. was exploring the extremities humans would go to, to justify dominance and power over another. This was further exemplified by using chapters entitled with biblical references. The author has stated how some of these references were representations of the biblical stories such as the exploration of Paul an overseer at the plantation and his brutality. Other chapters work to contrast the biblical representation resulting in a commentary and consideration of how Christianity was linked to the repression of a people with the central purpose of serving capitalist greed and profit. The inclusion of breeding farms to produce the ideal physical specimens with the idea of creating maximum profit was again another area of the book that was horrific to learn about and uncomfortable to read.
The book had moments of relief and this, for me, came through the voices of Maggie and Essie who were both so interesting and thoughtfully crafted. In fact, I felt the representation of the women in this book was something that will stay with me for a long time. Their unity and coming together after a particularly brutal event felt restorative as a reader and extremely emotional. The display of humanity amid such horror felt incredibly poignant and powerful. This felt like one of a number of reprieves that the author gave us as a reader in order to allow us to continue in a place that was so hellish.
Even though we are given this insight into other characters, each narrative centres around both Isaiah and Samuel and always returns to them. What I found particularly fascinating was the portrayal of their love for each other and how each partner responded to the other. Isaiah felt more openly accepting and loving whilst Samuel seemed in a continual battle with himself and the emotions he had for Isaiah as well as his situation on the plantation. Overriding everything was their love and their connection. The scenes of dialogue and their understanding of each other and being accommodating of each other was so well done and again, incredibly moving. They are perceived as a pair and are called the ‘Two of Them’ by everyone else on the plantation. Robert Jones Jnr. explores the attitudes towards them by others on the plantation which varies from fear, regret, hopelessness and love. The fact this is the only narrative I have read that explores this illustrates not only that I need to read more but also stresses the vital importance of these stories being told.

This should have been a book I loved. A raw, forbidden love story of two young, gay men on a Mississippi plantation tainted by betrayal. Throughout the horrors of slavery, their love seemed to shine through a shitstorm and it's a story like none other that I've read.

But I struggled with it. I found it hard to keep up with the way it was written (this ain't no bad thing - my brain is a little wonky so this is most likely an issue unique to me) and it felt a bit of a slog.

I've bought a copy anyway. A weird thing, I know, but I have every intention of giving it another shot in the future.

The Prophets is a beautifully written story of two young men's forbidden love for each other, but it's also the story of so much more than that. This novel took me on a journey through time that transported me to the very beginning of slavery, when the Portuguese ships landed and began to enslave Black people and the repercussions that followed. Not only does this novel immerse us in Samuel and Isaiah's tender love but The Prophets tells the story of a multitude of slaves on just one plantation, it shares their voices, their grief and their trauma but always with a connection to Samuel and Isaiah. The focus of this story is most definitely on the forbidden relationship between the two men of this period, but Robert Jones Jr. explores each character perfectly and adds layers upon layers to their characterisation. What I loved the most about The Prophets is the way it was written, the writing is both lyrical and atmospheric, there are very harrowing and brutal scenes within this book but the author has written them with care and honesty. The Prophets is a book I definitely plan to reread in the near future.

A beautifully written novel, about two men on a plantation, the relationship between them allowing them despite from the brutality of their masters. I loved the characters so much, I didn’t want this book to end.

Forbidden love in a time when love is in short supply, The Prophets is the story of Isaiah and Samuel, two slaves who find each other even when surrounded by brutality and hardship. Together they bring hope and acceptance into their small knit world of the Halifax cotton plantation, a place where people are shackled and separated from their families.

Throughout the novel, we also get to experience life on the plantation through the eyes of those who interact with Isaiah and Samuel, and hear their views. From the other slaves, to the 'master' and his family, we explore their perception of love and their complicated relationships with each other. All have their place within this world, and each character felt well developed and described. They all fell like real people, and I think that makes the emotional impact all the more powerful. You really feel the desperation and despair, the endless days that have no foreseeable ending, the constant suffering. Robert Jones Jr. manages to write all of this with such finesse and compassion that it's hard to believe this is a debut.

The writing also manages to effortlessly blend rich backdrops of cotton plants and heavy, stifling weather, using it as a comparison to how the characters feel and behave. It provides the perfect environment to drawn tension from, building on this foundation of love into something more powerful, and ultimately more violent and dangerous. It was so well done.

Devastating beautiful. I think that about sums this up.

The Halifax plantation is known as Empty by the slaves who work it under the pitiless gaze of its overseers and its owner, Massa Paul. Two young enslaved men, Samuel and Isaiah live among the animals in the barn, helping out in the fields when their day is done. The Barn is their safe place where they can truly be themselves, a space of love where they can be alone together, a space away from the brutality of reality. But, Amos - a fellow slave - has begun to direct suspicion towards the two men. And preaching the words of Massa Paul's gospel, he betrays them.

When reading it I just knew something was going to go down and by the time I’d finished I was in pieces and cried for half an hour and just sat in silence… Just thinking back to it still makes me feel things (that’s how you know it’s a good book).

There are so many elements of this book that I loved, the characters were drawn beautifully and everyone was given a voice, the writing was almost lyrical, and it’s also the author’s debut! You really feel the love that Samuel and Isaiah have for each other and the hope that their relationship gives them, as well as their pain. I found Maggie, who is the ‘mother’ figure to them and sneaks them food from the big house, to be one of the most interesting characters as she protests her enslavement in subtle ways without the masters suspecting a thing. It’s her way of reclaiming the power of her life.

This story felt truly special, and I couldn’t pick up another book for a week after finishing it. I have no doubt that this will be in my top 2021 reads.

Thank you so much Quercus for this ARC.

The Prophets on the surface could be described as yet another book about the horror of slavery. However, it differs and is worth your attention due to the narrative focus. The reader is aware of the plantation setting, but little attention is paid to the day to day work lives of the characters. Rather it is the personal perspective of the slaves as they exist in 'private' that is explored. The dreams of Samuel and Isaiah, Amos, Maggie and more are exquisitely crafted and this love that sparks hope is both beautifully and brutally portrayed. Their shared African heritage beats through The Prophets as it pounds against the rigidity of the southern way of life carving those who can be bent to adapt from those who will not be moulded.
Jones' mastery of language is deftly used to ensure that even in the bleakest circumstances that humanity is found and a new dawn imaginable.

The Prophets is a book that pulls no punches when describing the brutality of life as an enslaved person in the American South. We see the worst of humanity laid out here, yet also the beauty of rebellion, whether through anger, love or clinging onto ancestral faith traditions.

Jones skilfully weaves between the present, the past and that without time as we see enslaved people choose between the faith and beliefs of their enslavers and the fragments of their histories they cling to.

The book is written beautifully, though some passages felt a little clouded by overwriting. I look forward to reading whatever else the author writes though, this is a first-rate debut.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.