TARGET AUDIENCE: For fans of powerful and moving family stories and in the vein of authors such as Jesmyn Ward, Brit Bennett, and Tommy Orange, comes debut novel PERISH, about a Black Texan family, exploring the effects of inherited trauma and intragenerational violence as the family comes together to say goodbye to their matriarch on her deathbed.

LaToya Watkins's PERISH follows four members of the Turner clan: Julie B., a woman who regrets her wasted youth and the time spent under Helen Jean's thumb; Alex, a police officer grappling with a dark and twisted past; Jan, mother of two, who yearns to go to school and leave Jerusalem and all of its trauma behind for good; and Lydia, a woman whose marriage is falling apart because her body can't seem to stay pregnant; as they're called home to say goodbye to their mother and grandmother, Helen Jean.



Told through alternating chapters, and set in a vividly drawn, tight-knit rural, Black Texan community, PERISH explores the effects of inherited trauma and intragenerational violence and pain as the family's "reunion" unearths long-kept secrets and forces each member to ask themselves important questions about who is deserving of forgiveness and who bears the cross of blame.



With powerful, sharp prose and a sense of place that is wholly immersive, offering a nuanced look into Black communites in Texas, this beautiful yet heart-wrenching debut novel will pull you in and drop you into the world LaToya has masterfully crafted within the pages.