The Great Wherever: A Novel

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At thirty-two, Aubrey Lamb is stumbling into adulthood. A semi-employed gig worker in Washington, DC, she's grieving the recent loss of her father and the end of a relationship that she'd thought would lead to marriage. When Aubrey learns that she has inherited a shared stake in a sizable Tennessee farm from her father, she simply sees an opportunity to get out of the city-and the potential to erase a mounting pile of debts. Upon her arrival in Lanyer County, though, Aubrey meets the relatives with whom she shares ownership of the farm, and discovers the backstory of the land, beginning with her great-grandfather Thomas-one of the first Black landowners in his community, who gave his four children a homestead on which they could flourish. But the land proves to be a burdensome inheritance. Over the years, it divides the family, turning Thomas' descendants against each other and drawing the attention of external forces only too eager to wrest the land from Black hands. These struggles come to a head when a ...