Tangleroot

Ages 14 to 18

A debut YA novel by Kalela Williams about blood and family that is both history and mystery.

18-year-old Noni Reid has grown up in the shadow of her mother, the renowned scholar of Black literature, Dr. Radiance Castine, who is alarmingly perfect at just about everything.

When Dr. Castine divorces Noni’s father and takes a job as the President of the prestigious Stonepost College in rural Virginia, Noni is forced to leave her New England home, and most importantly, a popular podcast she hosts with her friends. She and her mother move into the “big house” on Tangleroot Plantation.

Tangleroot was built by one of Noni’s ancestors, an enslaved man named Cuffee Fortune—who Dr. Castine believes was also the original founder of Stonepost College, and that the school was originally formed for black students. Dr. Castine spends much of her time trying to piece together enough undeniable truth, in order to change the name of the school in Cuffe’s honor—and so that the university has a reckoning with its own racist past.

Meanwhile, Noni hates just about everything about her new home, but finds herself morbidly fascinated by the white, slave-holding family who once lived in it. While walking through the plantation grounds one day, she stumbles upon a headstone—that of a girl named Sophie Dearborn—a girl her age who died unmarried, buried with her newborn. This girl shares a name with Noni’s black grandmother, and her interest is piqued. Slowly, she begins to unpeel the layers of sinister history that envelope her new home, her mothers’ workplace, her history, ancestry—and her life story as she knew it. Through it all, she must navigate the ancient prejudices of the citizens in her small town, and ultimately, she finds herself both affirming her mother’s position and hers—but also discovering a secret that changes everything.

About the Author

Kalela Williams is a writer, an educator, and a historian. She is the Director of Writing of Mighty Writers, a Philadelphia-based organization that hosts writing workshops for young people, and she recently concluded almost a decade of public programming with the Free Library of Philadelphia, where she directed their One Book, One Philadelphia program and other literary initiatives. She is also the founder of Black History Maven, a social media and in-person gathering community. Kalela grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and currently calls Philadelphia home.