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A Novel
by Addie E. Citchens
Book Reviewed by:In this taut Southern family drama, the sins of a favorite son rock a small Mississippi town.
Reverend Sabre Winfrey, shepherd of the Seven Seals Baptist Church, believes in God, his own privilege, and enterprise. Besides the barbershop and radio station he owns, he has an iron hand on every aspect of Dominion, Mississippi, society. He and his wife, Priscilla, have five boys; the youngest, Emanuel, is called Wonderboy―no one sings prettier, runs as fast, or turns as many heads. After a surprising encounter with a stranger, Wonderboy finds himself confronted by questions he'd never imagined, and his response will send shockwaves through the entire community. Told from the point of view of the women who love these two men, Dominion illustrates how we enable the everyday violence and casual sins of the patriarchy.
A Black Southern family drama that deals as much in tenderness and humor as it does in brutality, Addie E. Citchens's Dominion reveals the many sinister ways in which we are shaped by fear and patriarchy.
1
I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who can save anybody.
FROM THE MINISTER'S DESK
Sabre J. Winfrey
June 4, 2000
MORNING MESSAGE: We're Not Worthy
SCRIPTURAL BACKGROUND: "And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne, a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?' And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it." Revelation 5:1–3 NKJV
SABRE POINTS: What does the inability of anyone to open the book of judgment tell us about the Christian in the time of John? ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
We know that sin was passed to us through our brother Adam, and we know only the Lamb has walked the earth without sin. Why is John so ...
Women Prize for Fiction longlist 2026
Congratulations to the sweetheart debut novel The Correspondent ** by Virginia Evans** now crowned winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2026 Shortlist: The Correspondent ** by Virginia Evans (Winner)**: A moving and uplifting debut about a 73-year-old woman named Sybil who reflects on her life...
-Anne_Glasgow
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (11/6/2025)
I read Dominion by Addie Citchens :star: :star: :star: :star: :star: . What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown :star: :star: :star: :star: DNF'd Life, and Death and Giants Ron Rindo The Witch's Orchard Archur Sullivan
-Michele_P
Dominion is a family drama mainly focused on how Sabre and Manny's actions influence the lives of those around them, especially women. Switching perspectives between Priscilla and Diamond offers a nuanced view that emphasizes the book's core issues. A significant part of the novel, which begins chapters with sermon notes, explores how the church affects the community and how religion plays a major role in Southern American culture. Citchens illustrates the rules, dynamics, and norms that the town residents adhere to as they dress in their best attire for church, turn to prayer during times of tragedy or hardship, and avoid drawing attention to any situation involving the Winfreys, for fear of damaging their own reputations. Intrigue and tension are maintained for the reader through knowledge of Manny's violent acts, of which the other characters are unaware. The dramatic irony of Diamond consistently defending Manny as a harmless, innocent boy, while Priscilla, more suspicious of his true nature, struggles with what a mother should do to hold her son accountable, is thought-provoking...continued
Full Review
(1034 words)
(Reviewed by Letitia Asare).
Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
This is the rarest and finest kind of storytelling, where both the tradition and innovation get plucked by the most audacious artistry I've experienced in a long, long time. You read this and see there's literally nothing narratively Citchens can't do with her skill, her will. We have never in our reading lives experienced such an imagination, a gumption, a breathing Mississippi, and a craftsperson this locked in at this stage of her career. My god, we are lucky. Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of The American Daughters
It's rare that a debut author produces a work of such tenderness and ferocity, but that's what Addie Citchens has done in her unforgettable In the Image of the Beast. Rich with metaphor and thrumming power, it tells a vivid and unforgettable story of two Mississippi Black women. If Citchens didn't exist, the South would invent her. But she does exist and our common literary soil is enriched because of it.
In Dominion by Addie E. Citchens, religion strongly influences both a family and the entire town of Dominion, Mississippi. The focus is on the Winfreys, whose patriarch is the reverend of the Seven Seals Baptist Church. Because of how important and widespread Christianity is in the South, this position brings power and high status to him and his family. Throughout the novel, townspeople talk about their faith and feelings toward the church, illustrating how deeply religion is part of their town and Southern US culture. While faiths of various kinds are important to millions of people all around the world, religion in the American South significantly shapes daily life, actions, and social hierarchies more than in many other places. In ...
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