Do you have a favorite genre of literature? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
It’s October. What better month than this to get into a Southern gothic horror novel by debut novelist Del Sandeen? If you’ve enjoyed her many recommendations in our newsletter for good reads, chances are you’ll “fall” for her new page turner. Sandeen’s main character Jemma Barker is either you or someone you know!
From the Publisher, Berkley
In the fall of 1962, twenty-seven-year-old Jemma Barker is desperate to escape her life in Chicago—and the spirits she has always been able to see. When she receives an unexpected job offer from the Duchon family in New Orleans, she accepts, thinking it is her chance to start over.
But Jemma discovers that the Duchon family isn’t what it seems. Light enough to pass as white, the Black family members look down on brown-skinned Jemma. Their tenuous hold on reality extends to all the members of their eccentric clan, from haughty grandmother Honorine to beautiful yet inscrutable cousin Fosette. And soon the shocking truth comes out: The Duchons are under a curse. And they think Jemma has the power to break it.
As Jemma wrestles with the gift she’s run from all her life, she unravels deeper and more disturbing secrets about the mysterious Duchons. Secrets that stretch back over a century. Secrets that bind her to their fate if she fails.
Sandeen talks with Sisters about her enthralling debut novel
Your book is set in the 1960s and deals with a well-known ism...colorism. Do you think that this is something that Black women still experience today?
Yes, unfortunately, this is an issue that’s still going on. Social media is one place that makes it obvious that colorism is an ongoing problem, but studies have even shown that lighter skinned women have a slightly higher probability of getting married compared to their darker skinned sisters. There was a natural hair forum I used to visit in the early 2000s, and people generally used Andre Walker’s hair typing system (type 1-type 4, with 4 being the curliest, coiliest hair) to self-identify. Even among Black women who celebrated wearing their hair in its natural state, issues cropped up. Some women felt only Afro-textured hair should be considered in the new natural hair movement, while others looked for all kinds of “holy grail” products to get the looser curls of type 3. For women who view other women as competition instead of sisters, they might believe the narrative some men promote regarding a woman’s attractiveness being based solely on her skin color and hair texture.
What makes a book a horror novel and a speculative fiction novel, and what do you love most about the genres?
Speculative fiction involves elements that aren’t part of the real world. It includes various genres, such as fantasy (high and low), science fiction, alt history, futurism, magical realism, fabulism, and horror. What makes a horror novel is the fear factor. There are different levels of horror, and some are ghost stories, while others are dystopian tales.
What I love about speculative fiction as a whole is the ability to give readers the chance to escape the everyday and the mundane. You can visit other universes and galaxies, or just see your own world in a different light, in speculative fiction. And one of my favorite things about horror is being brave enough to face your fears, at least on the page, and this may or may not translate to real life.
Jemma the protagonist is brave and determined like the readers of Sisters From AARP. What is something that you would like them to take away from reading your novel?
I’d love for readers to see a bit of Jemma in themselves. And if they don’t yet recognize their strength and they haven’t yet embraced themselves as they are, maybe they’ll realize they can really do these things, just as Jemma changes over the course of the novel and learns to love herself for herself. Another thing I’d like for them to take away is that we’re all equally valuable and worth being celebrated, no matter our skin color.
Do you have a favorite genre of literature? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
