The Wilderness

At long last, Flournoy follows up her 2015 debut, the National Book Award finalist The Turner House, with this coming-into-middle-age novel about four Black women navigating the tumultuous years from their twenties to their forties in New York and L.A, from 2008 to 2027. Flournoy describes herself to be fascinated by group dynamics, and here she portrays the complex and ever-shifting friendship between these four friends and chosen sisters as they make their way through the “wilderness”—the unclear path each woman must navigate as she finds her way in work, love, and life. Read this 2025 Fall Book Preview spotlight title for the expertly drawn character development and the nuanced exploration of gender expectations, romantic entanglements, class concerns, caregiving, and the evolving dynamics of city life.