Junie: A GMA Book Club Pick

Description:
“A strong-willed enslaved girl is haunted by her sister’s ghost as she grapples with circumstances beyond her control, risking her life as the Civil War looms in this lush and tenderhearted debut. Junie has always yearned for more. Born and raised on the Bellereine plantation in the Alabama countryside, the sixteen-year-old spends her days working for the McQueens and serving as a maid for their daughter Violet, her oldest and closest friend. In the daytime, she entertains herself with poetry and imagines grand romances and faraway worlds. Under the cover of night, she steals away to the woods, curling up by the riverbank. But consumed by grief over the recent death of her older sister Minnie, she has vowed never to leave her family’s side. Her world is capsized at the arrival of the Taylors, a wealthy brother and sister from New Orleans. The McQueens are keen to marry Violet off to Mr. Taylor, and if they succeed, Junie would be ripped away from everyone she knows and loves. Committing a desperate act, she awakens Minnie’s tempestuous spirit, who can only move on once Junie completes three crucial tasks. She enlists the aid of Caleb, Mr. Taylor’s chauffeur, and the two strike up a quick friendship that soon becomes something more. Yet time is ticking, and as secrets and betrayals rise to the surface, Junie must wade into unfamiliar territory as she pushes against the current that has controlled her entire life. Encapsulating the multitudes of a young girl caught between the steadiness of the familiar and the gamble of diving into the unknown, Erin Crosby Eckstine explores the strength of love and friendship under the crushing weight of servitude. In this radiant and stirring novel, Junie soars to life, brimming with longing that cannot be contained and hope that can never be extinguished”–

Sixteen years old and enslaved since she was born, Junie has spent her life on Bellereine Plantation in Alabama, cooking and cleaning alongside her family, and tending to the white master’s daughter, Violet. Her daydreams are filled with poetry and faraway worlds, while she spends her nights secretly roaming through the forest, consumed with grief over the sudden death of her older sister, Minnie.
When wealthy guests arrive from New Orleans, hinting at marriage for Violet and upending Junie’s life, she commits a desperate act–one that rouses Minnie’s spirit from the grave, tethered to this world unless Junie can free her. She enlists the aid of Caleb, the guests’ coachman, and their friendship soon becomes something more. Yet as long-held truths begin to crumble, she realizes Bellereine is harboring dark and horrifying secrets that can no longer be ignored.
With time ticking down, Junie begins to push against the harsh current that has controlled her entire life. As she grapples with an increasingly unfamiliar world in which she has little control, she is forced to ask herself: When we choose love and liberation, what must we leave behind?

Review Quotes:
” Junie . . . has such a raw beauty that absolutely captivated me. . . . Junie’s quiet strength comes from the stark, uncompromising truth of enslavement, creating a tension that kept me completely immersed in her world. Eckstine crafts a narrative that is both haunting and profoundly moving, and her prose is wildly vivid.” —CityBeat (Cincinnati)

“The richly textured prose quickly pulled me into the protagonist’s treacherous yet magical world. I was drawn to the story of Junie, an enslaved teenager with a love of books and nature who must navigate difficult truths about her family and friendships in order to survive her times.” –Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake

“Propulsive and haunting, young Junie takes on the many burdens handed to her while reaching for the hope she wasn’t meant to have. Erin Crosby Eckstine breathes urgency, wit, and resilience into her preternaturally gifted protagonist. Junie is a lush and immersive story about power, reckoning, love, and redemption. . . . A true beauty of a book.” –Diane Marie Brown, author of Black Candle Women

“Junie is the beating heart of this powerful and moving coming-of-age novel, insisting on her right to language, love, and a life on her own terms. Rich in historical detail and packed with suspense, this is a story of survival I will not forget.” –Erin Swan, author of Walk the Vanished Earth

“A haunting tale about power, family, and the difficult choices we sometimes have to make for (or in spite of) the people we love. Here is a novel that takes a clear-eyed look at the brutality of slavery without ever depriving the people harmed by it of their agency and humanity.” –Rita Chang-Eppig, author of Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea

“Eckstine combines the lyricism of Jesmyn Ward and Toni Morrison with the speculative historical fiction of Tananarive Due and Leslye Penelope in a stunning debut that will also appeal to fans of Percival Everett’s James.” —Booklist, starred review

“A compelling portrait of the psychological, emotional, and social degradations of slavery . . . Eckstine is a talented writer to watch. Featuring a spirited protagonist, this compelling mix of the historical and the supernatural will resonate.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Bringing elements of magical realism that will remind readers of Janelle M. Williams and Jesmyn Ward, Junie is a stunning debut novel about resilience and ancestral power that is both haunting and inspiring.” –She Reads

“[A] finely crafted debut . . . The complex plot and righteous protagonist will keep readers turning the pages. Eckstine evokes the earthly and supernatural to equally powerful effect in this richly layered tale.” —Publishers Weekly

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK – A young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister’s ghost, navigating truths about love, friendship, and power as the Civil War looms.

“The richly textured prose quickly pulled me into [Junie’s] treacherous yet magical world.”–Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake

Biographical Note:
Jessica Soffer is the author of This Is a Love Story and Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots. She grew up in New York City, attended Connecticut College, and earned her MFA at Hunter College. Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, Real Simple, Saveur, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue, and on NPR’s Selected Shorts. She teaches creative writing to small groups and in the corporate space and lives in Sag Harbor, New York, with her family.

ISBN:9780593725115
Publisher: Ballantine
Format: Hardcover
Pub Date: February 04, 2025
Physical Info: 1.34″ H x 9.21″ L x 6.38″ W (1.27 lbs) 368 pages
SRP: $30.00