Angela Flournoy veritably burst onto the literary stage in 2015 with her debut, THE TURNER HOUSE, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. Now her second novel, THE WILDERNESS, has been longlisted for a National Book Award as well, which was announced even before the official publication date.

THE TURNER HOUSE was deeply concerned with history, specifically a rich and sometimes turbulent history of African Americans in the 20th century, as viewed through one family and one house. In THE WILDERNESS, Flournoy continues to demonstrate her adeptness at weaving together intimate, personal life stories with the historical milieu surrounding them. In this case, the unifying feature is not a family or a house, but a group of friends, all of whom are young Black women trying to navigate the so-called wilderness of coming of age in the early 21st century.

"THE WILDERNESS is that rare novel that will prompt reflection on both the quality of one's relationships and the times in which we find ourselves."

Two of them are sisters --- Danielle and Desiree --- whose relationship is disrupted first by what one of them sees as a betrayal of family trust, and later as a more personal betrayal. There's also January, the only one of them with a steady relationship throughout, though she has second thoughts about her partner continually. Monique, a librarian turned unexpected online influencer, struggles with balancing her desire for attention with her genuine love of research and learning. And Nakia chafes when her family disrespects her decision to pursue a culinary career rather than a more respectable profession, even when she achieves considerable professional success.

Chapters stretch from 2008 to 2027, although the chronology sometimes unfolds out of order. At times, readers might encounter a situation in, for example, 2024, only for its background to be explained later, in a chapter set in 2018 or 2020. Chapters are largely told through the point of view of one or the other member of the friend group. But since they do have these intersecting relationships, we gain glimpses into all of their lives throughout. The result is a sense that we've been witnesses to these women's lives, to their falling out and coming back together, to their youthful hopefulness and their more mature resignation.

These interpersonal evolutions take place against the background of some pretty turbulent decades in modern history, from the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial reckoning of the George Floyd murder, to more recent (and near-future) crackdowns on political protest and the rise of technology-assisted policing. THE WILDERNESS is that rare novel that will prompt reflection on both the quality of one's relationships and the times in which we find ourselves.