12 out of 13 First Impressions readers rated Robert Jones Jr.'s novel The Prophets 4 or 5 stars. Jones is an established writer and critic, and The Prophets is his first novel.

What the book is about:

This book explores the relationship between two young male slaves who have fallen in love and look to each other for tenderness in excruciatingly ruthless surroundings (Linda S). Did Black queer people exist in the past? Of course they did, but where are they in the historical record? Jones imagines their history, from ancestral Africa to the Antebellum South (Ann B).

Readers were struck by the power and beauty of the novel, commenting on the lyrical quality of the writing.

While difficult at times to read, due to the subject and the graphic nature of certain scenes, I thought that The Prophets was a powerful, beautifully written book (Brittany P). Reading this book was an ...