The Turner House - Paperback

by Angela Flournoy (Author)

"Flournoy's knockout debut is one of those books that should, by rights, be described as the Great American Novel." -- NPR
A New York Times Notable Book

Named a Best Book of the Year byO, The Oprah Magazine * Entertainment Weekly * NPR * Essence * Men's Journal * Buzzfeed * Bustle * Time Out * Denver Post * Publishers Weekly * Kirkus Reviews * BookPage * Literary Hub * Kobo * The Week

"A page-turner. Richly wrought prose and intimate, vivid dialogue. A-." -- Entertainment Weekly

For over fifty years the Turners have lived on Yarrow Street. Their house has seen thirteen children get grown and gone--and some return; it has seen the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit's East Side, and the loss of a father. But when their powerful mother falls ill, the Turners are called home to decide their house's fate and to reckon with how their past haunts--and shapes--their future. The Turner House is a striking examination of the price we pay for our dreams, and the ways in which our families bring us home.

"An epic that feels deeply personal . . . Flournoy's finely tuned empathy infuses her characters with a radiant humanity." -- O, The Oprah Magazine

"In this assured and memorable novel, [Flournoy] provides the feeling of knowing a family from the inside out, as we would wish to know our own." -- New York Times Book Review

Front Jacket

Meet the Turners: a big, complicated, loving, feuding, vibrant American family


There ain t no haints in Detroit.

So spoke Francis Turner patriarch and provider, former preacher and current truck driver when his children claimed to have seen a ghost. A rising homeowner set to banish all the old ways for the promise of the new, Francis was having none of it. He and his wife worked hard to secure that house, to move up from Arkansas to Detroit, to make this life possible. He would not be haunted by the past.

And so a myth was born, where any one of the Turners might later say this phrase and be telling about so much more than haints.

***

The Turners live on Yarrow Street for over fifty years. Their house sees thirteen children get grown and gone and some return; it sees the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit s East Side, and the loss of a father. Despite abandoned lots, an embattled city, and the inevitable shift outward to the suburbs, the house still stands. But now, as their powerful mother falls ill and loses her independence, the Turners might lose their family home. Beset by time and a national crisis, the house is worth just a tenth of its mortgage. The Turner children are called back to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts might haunt and shape their family s future.

A major new contribution to the literature on American families, The Turner House brings us a colorful brood full of love, pride, and unlikely inheritances. It s a striking examination of the American dream and a celebration of the ways in which our families bring us home."

Back Jacket

Utterly moving and tough as nails, The Turner Houseis a love story as immense as the family it describes, and as complicated as the city that made them. A clear-sighted ode to the bonds that make and break us, to resilience across generations, to shared joys and solitary struggles, Flournoy s debut is as fresh and bold as they come.Commanding and unputdownable! Ayana Mathis

Flournoy is a magician here is a story that is charming and funny while being whip-smart and profound. Laced through are the hard facts of history and the mysterious workings of the human heart. This is a thrilling debut. Tayari Jones

An expansive and ambitious novel that descends through the generations of one family s history to achieve real poignancy and power. T. C. Boyle

The Turner House is masterful: full of history and lies and the myths that can bring a family together, or tear it apart. This is a beautiful, elegant, and living novel, one that you will savor until the last, moving paragraph. Daniel Alarcon

As compelling, unforgettable, and beautifully told a story as I ve read in ages. While each of the thirteen siblings (and their parents) could carry a book on his or her own, here they remain indelibly linked by the complicated bonds of history and belonging and by the promises of their heartbreak city, Detroit. Cristina Garcia

This book is so beautifully written, so perfectly observed and heard it s about aging and parenthood and above all that misunderstood lifelong union, siblinghood but it s also pure pleasure to read: funny, heartbreaking, with the sort of characters you ll miss like family when you finish. Elizabeth McCracken"

Author Biography

ANGELA FLOURNOY is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the University of Southern California. She has taught writing at various universities and has worked for the D.C. Public Library. She was raised in Southern California by a mother from Los Angeles and a father from Detroit.