Named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker , People , Los Angeles Times , NPR, and more Winner of France’s Prix du Premier Roman Étranger “An inventive ode to self-determination and also a surrealistic vision of Black life as forged within the crucible of American history . . . [written in] lush, ornamental prose.” — The New Yorker “Fans of The Underground Railroad , The Water Dancer , and Let Us Descend will devour this lyrical and surreal saga.” — Oprah Daily From a writer of singular voice and vision, a mesmerizing epic that reimagines the past to explore the true nature of freedom In this ingenious, sweeping novel, Phillip B. Williams introduces us to an enigmatic woman named Saint, a fearsome conjurer who, in the 1830s, annihilates plantations all over Arkansas to rescue the people enslaved there. She brings those she has freed to a haven of her own creation: a town just north of St. Louis, magically concealed from outsiders, named Ours. It is in this miraculous place that Saint’s grand experiment—a truly secluded community where her people may flourish—takes root. But although Saint does her best to protect the inhabitants of Ours, over time, her conjuring and memories begin to betray her, leaving the town vulnerable to intrusions by newcomers with powers of their own. As the cracks in Saint’s creation are exposed, some begin to wonder whether the community’s safety might be yet another form of bondage. Set over the course of four decades and steeped in a rich tradition of American literature informed by Black surrealism, mythology, and spirituality, Ours is a stunning exploration of the possibilities and limitations of love and freedom by a writer of capacious vision and talent. Praise for Ours : “[An] ambitious debut . . . In lush, ornamental prose, Williams, who is also a poet, traces many characters’ entwined journeys as they seek to understand the forces that assemble and separate them. The novel is an inventive ode to self-determination and also a surrealistic vision of Black life as forged within the crucible of American history.” — The New Yorker, “The Best Books of 2024” “Transcendent.” — Time “A captivating, complex debut.” — People, “PEOPLE Picks the 10 Best Debut Fiction Books of 2024” “Williams’s gorgeously poetic language shows his characters slowly finding not just liberation but also connection and even transcendence.” — The Washington Post, “The 11 best science fiction and fantasy books of 2024” “Williams finds new ways to ask age-old questions: How do we have both safety and freedom? What makes a ragtag group into a community? And most important, how do we find the missing parts of ourselves in other people?” — The Washington Post “Deeply absorbing . . . Ours , for all its elements of magic, fantasy, and mythology, is a realistic depiction of how we might arrive at utopia: through people who are always trying to become, always finding ways to navigate and survive harsh realities, always reaching for moments of joy and intimacy.” — Los Angeles Times “There’s nothing that hits like a truly magnetic work of magical realism, and Ours by Phillip B. Williams has all the makings of a stunner. . . . Williams is unabashedly brilliant.” —Elle “Williams transports us back to the antebellum South—but with a liberatory, supernatural twist. . . . Fans of The Underground Railroad , The Water Dancer , and Let Us Descend will devour this lyrical and surreal saga.” — Oprah Daily “ Ours joins a canon of similar works that have appeared in recent years, such as Jesmyn Ward’s recent novel Let Us Descend and Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 2016 The Underground Railroad . . . . By taking such care to document the horrors of slavery alongside the ‘freedom [his characters] deserve,’ Williams seems to offer the possibility of a world beyond trauma.” —Financial Times “There is joy, ambition, and curiosity in Ours , and queerness is a vital part of it.” —them, “Staff Picks: The 16 Best LGBTQ+ Books of 2024” “A transcendent and lyrical exploration of freedom that delivers a fluid, spiritual and empowering meditation on the complexities of reclaiming identity . . . Williams has assembled a vivid and theatrical ensemble in ‘Ours’ and given them plenty of room to access their humanity as their lives intersect and intertwine. The result is a spiritual, redemptive and stirring look at the numerous shapes autonomy takes.” — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “A multigenerational epic that will sweep you off of your feet . . . Williams possesses a brilliant imagination and understanding of storytelling. . . . [He] uses his poet’s ear in crafting his prose, and the words shine on every page.” —Book Riot “ Phillip B. Williams establishes that his lyrical gifts, which work so well in poetry, have the strength to support a nearly six-hundred-page tome in his debut novel. . . . Ours is a novel that touches several centuries, explori