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Zeal
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Expected 22 Apr 25The New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoing and Caul Baby returns with an epic, multi-generational novel that illuminates the legacy of slavery and the power of romantic love.
Harlem, 2019. Ardelia and Oliver are hosting their engagement party. As the guests get ready to leave, he hands her a love letter on a yellowing, crumbling piece of paper . . .
Natchez, 1865. Discharged from the Union Army as a free man after the war’s end, Harrison returns to Mississippi to reunite with the woman he loves, Tirzah. Upon his arrival at the Freedmen’s Bureau, though, he catches the eye of a woman working there, who’s determined to thwart his efforts to find his beloved. After tragedy strikes, Harrison resigns himself to a life with her.
Meanwhile in Louisiana, the newly free Tirzah is teaching at the Freedmen’s School, and discovers an advertisement in the local paper looking for her. Though she knows Harrison must have placed it, and longs to find him, the risks of fleeing are too great, and Tirzah chooses the life of seeming security right in front of her.
Spanning over a hundred and fifty years, Morgan Jerkins’s extraordinary novel intertwines the stories of these star-crossed lovers and their descendants. As Tirzah's family moves across the countryduring the Great Migration, they challenge authority with devastating consequences, while of the legacy of heartbreak and loss continues on in the lives of Harrison's progeny.
When Ardelia meets Oliver, she finds his family’s history is as full of secrets and omissions as her own. Could their connection be a cosmic reconciliation satisfying the unfulfilled desires of their ancestors, or will the weight of the past, present and future tear them apart?
Sweeping, textured, and meticulously researched, Zeal is both a story of how one generation’s choices reverberate through the years and an indelible portrait of an enduring love.
Harlem, 2019. Ardelia and Oliver are hosting their engagement party. As the guests get ready to leave, he hands her a love letter on a yellowing, crumbling piece of paper . . .
Natchez, 1865. Discharged from the Union Army as a free man after the war’s end, Harrison returns to Mississippi to reunite with the woman he loves, Tirzah. Upon his arrival at the Freedmen’s Bureau, though, he catches the eye of a woman working there, who’s determined to thwart his efforts to find his beloved. After tragedy strikes, Harrison resigns himself to a life with her.
Meanwhile in Louisiana, the newly free Tirzah is teaching at the Freedmen’s School, and discovers an advertisement in the local paper looking for her. Though she knows Harrison must have placed it, and longs to find him, the risks of fleeing are too great, and Tirzah chooses the life of seeming security right in front of her.
Spanning over a hundred and fifty years, Morgan Jerkins’s extraordinary novel intertwines the stories of these star-crossed lovers and their descendants. As Tirzah's family moves across the countryduring the Great Migration, they challenge authority with devastating consequences, while of the legacy of heartbreak and loss continues on in the lives of Harrison's progeny.
When Ardelia meets Oliver, she finds his family’s history is as full of secrets and omissions as her own. Could their connection be a cosmic reconciliation satisfying the unfulfilled desires of their ancestors, or will the weight of the past, present and future tear them apart?
Sweeping, textured, and meticulously researched, Zeal is both a story of how one generation’s choices reverberate through the years and an indelible portrait of an enduring love.
416 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication April 22, 2025
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About the author
Morgan Jerkins
8books985followersMorgan Jerkins is the author of the New York Times bestseller, This Will Be My Undoing: Living at the Intersection of Black, Female, and Feminist in (White) America and the forthcoming Wandering In Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Roots.
A graduate of Princeton University and the Bennington Writing Seminars, Jerkins is the current Senior Editor at ZORA of Medium and former Associate Editor at Catapult. She teaches at Columbia University's School of the Arts and most recently was the Picador Professor at Leipzig University in Germany.
She's based in Harlem.
A graduate of Princeton University and the Bennington Writing Seminars, Jerkins is the current Senior Editor at ZORA of Medium and former Associate Editor at Catapult. She teaches at Columbia University's School of the Arts and most recently was the Picador Professor at Leipzig University in Germany.
She's based in Harlem.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 12, 2025
I finished this audiobook over the weekend, and y’all� Y’ALL!!
ZEAL is everything I love about historical fiction. The story is absolutely breathtaking from start to finish. The characters (!!!), the dual timelines, the depth of research, the rich storytelling—I was captivated by every damn word! I especially loved the dual timelines and haven’t stopped thinking about these characters since. Without a doubt, this will be one of my top reads of 2025!
If ZEAL isn’t on your TBR yet, I highly recommend adding it. Preorder now—you won’t regret it! I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy.
Given the time period (1865), there are definite trigger warnings, and Morgan does not shy away from the hard realities. Her delivery is immaculate.�
ZEAL is everything I love about historical fiction. The story is absolutely breathtaking from start to finish. The characters (!!!), the dual timelines, the depth of research, the rich storytelling—I was captivated by every damn word! I especially loved the dual timelines and haven’t stopped thinking about these characters since. Without a doubt, this will be one of my top reads of 2025!
If ZEAL isn’t on your TBR yet, I highly recommend adding it. Preorder now—you won’t regret it! I can’t wait to get my hands on a physical copy.
Given the time period (1865), there are definite trigger warnings, and Morgan does not shy away from the hard realities. Her delivery is immaculate.�
December 12, 2024
Absolutely stunning from beginning to end 😭❤️
Read
March 11, 2025I devoured Morgan Jerkins's new novel in two days. That's saying something because at nearly 500 pages,
Zeal
isn't exactly a quick read. But Jerkins, who gave us This Will Be My Undoing and Caul Baby, has outdone herself with this sweeping tale of love, family, and survival that spans 150 years.
The story grabs you from the first page. It's 1865, and Harrison, a former Union soldier, is making his way back to Mississippi to find the woman he loves. What follows is the kind of epic that makes you forget to eat dinner. Jerkins weaves together generations of stories that ripple out from that first journey home, showing how the choices we make echo through time.
Her research is impeccable, but unlike some historical fiction that reads like a textbook, Zeal never loses sight of the beating hearts at its center. The post-Civil War South comes alive through intimate details � the crack of a whip, the smell of cotton dust, the whispered prayers of those dreaming of freedom. But it's the characters who stay with you: their hopes, their fears, their fierce determination to protect the ones they love.
Jerkins has grown tremendously as a writer. Gone is the occasional melodrama of Caul Baby, replaced by prose that cuts straight to the bone. She handles multiple timelines with the skill of a master weaver, creating patterns that only become clear when you step back to see the whole tapestry.
If there's any fault here, it's that some storylines get less attention than they deserve � an almost inevitable issue when you're juggling 150 years of history. But that's like complaining that a feast has too many dishes.
This is the kind of book that makes you miss your subway stop. It's for anyone who loved Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing or Colson Whitehead's work, but really, it's for anyone who believes in the power of a story well told. Zeal hits bookstores on April 22, 2025. Mark your calendars � this one's special.
The story grabs you from the first page. It's 1865, and Harrison, a former Union soldier, is making his way back to Mississippi to find the woman he loves. What follows is the kind of epic that makes you forget to eat dinner. Jerkins weaves together generations of stories that ripple out from that first journey home, showing how the choices we make echo through time.
Her research is impeccable, but unlike some historical fiction that reads like a textbook, Zeal never loses sight of the beating hearts at its center. The post-Civil War South comes alive through intimate details � the crack of a whip, the smell of cotton dust, the whispered prayers of those dreaming of freedom. But it's the characters who stay with you: their hopes, their fears, their fierce determination to protect the ones they love.
Jerkins has grown tremendously as a writer. Gone is the occasional melodrama of Caul Baby, replaced by prose that cuts straight to the bone. She handles multiple timelines with the skill of a master weaver, creating patterns that only become clear when you step back to see the whole tapestry.
If there's any fault here, it's that some storylines get less attention than they deserve � an almost inevitable issue when you're juggling 150 years of history. But that's like complaining that a feast has too many dishes.
This is the kind of book that makes you miss your subway stop. It's for anyone who loved Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing or Colson Whitehead's work, but really, it's for anyone who believes in the power of a story well told. Zeal hits bookstores on April 22, 2025. Mark your calendars � this one's special.
March 15, 2025
Amidst sharecropping, Black Codes, and vigilante terror, Morgan Jerkins writes of the violence and separation of the post-Civil War South, in all its brutal viscera. Staring directly into the dark heart of American history—and into the present day—Jerkins has lifted up a peoples� cry for freedom toward the forces that guide us home. Zeal is an outstanding historical narrative and multigenerational epic, a love story and a reckoning that will both break you and make you believe.
December 30, 2024
Grateful to have been able to read an ARC for this! I loved the premise but I think it got a little meandering and convoluted in execution, with too many points of view. I also think the contemporary story could have been woven in a bit more intentionally earlier in the book. Vera/Violet was such a compelling character, I wished we spent more time with her. Also, I wanted more resolution with the earlier characters- we spent so much time with free, what happened to him? Overall it was an ok book that could have been awesome.
March 1, 2025
Zeal by Morgan Jenkins
The New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoingand Caul Baby returns with an epic, multi-generational novel that illuminates the legacy of slavery and the power of romantic love. Most anticipated: Washington Post
Harlem, 2019. Ardelia and Oliver are hosting their engagement party. As the guests get ready to leave, he hands her a love letter on a yellowing, crumbling piece of paper . . .
Natchez, 1865. Discharged from the Union Army as a free man after the war’s end, Harrison returns to Mississippi to reunite with the woman he loves, Tirzah. Upon his arrival at the Freedmen’s Bureau, though, he catches the eye of a woman working there, who’s determined to thwart his efforts to find his beloved. After tragedy strikes, Harrison resigns himself to a life with her.
Spanning over a hundred and fifty years, Morgan Jerkins’s extraordinary novel intertwines the stories of these star-crossed lovers and their descendants.
This audiobook is expertly narrated by January LaVoy and Shayna Small
Many thanks to Harper Audio, Libro.fm, and Morgan Jerkins for this advance listening copy.
Production is expectedApril 22, 2025
This book is brutal and unflinching. It is a very different sort of historical fiction. It is a sweeping timeline, and it goes in all sorts of places. From the blurb, one would expect a dual timeline. But it is primarily set in post-slavery days. A solid 4 stars from me.
The New York Times bestselling author of This Will Be My Undoingand Caul Baby returns with an epic, multi-generational novel that illuminates the legacy of slavery and the power of romantic love. Most anticipated: Washington Post
Harlem, 2019. Ardelia and Oliver are hosting their engagement party. As the guests get ready to leave, he hands her a love letter on a yellowing, crumbling piece of paper . . .
Natchez, 1865. Discharged from the Union Army as a free man after the war’s end, Harrison returns to Mississippi to reunite with the woman he loves, Tirzah. Upon his arrival at the Freedmen’s Bureau, though, he catches the eye of a woman working there, who’s determined to thwart his efforts to find his beloved. After tragedy strikes, Harrison resigns himself to a life with her.
Spanning over a hundred and fifty years, Morgan Jerkins’s extraordinary novel intertwines the stories of these star-crossed lovers and their descendants.
This audiobook is expertly narrated by January LaVoy and Shayna Small
Many thanks to Harper Audio, Libro.fm, and Morgan Jerkins for this advance listening copy.
Production is expectedApril 22, 2025
This book is brutal and unflinching. It is a very different sort of historical fiction. It is a sweeping timeline, and it goes in all sorts of places. From the blurb, one would expect a dual timeline. But it is primarily set in post-slavery days. A solid 4 stars from me.
April 12, 2025
As defined by Oxford Languages, zeal is "great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective." In the context of this book, the zealousness comes across when two souls find each other through their decedent's, even when a confluence of events keep them waiting until next time-cue Erykah Badu. If the synopsis of the book is intriguing, please know that Jerkins fulfills the book's promise and then some. I read the advanced reader copy of the book (my thanks to Netgalley), which did not include notes. With the historical references within the book, I plan on picking up a physical copy- I would love to read what sources influenced this book and can completely see this being adapted for the screen: it is epic in scope and completely cinematic. Further, this book is perfect for group discussion-especially now.
March 16, 2025
Wonderful historical fiction with in-depth research that kept me wanting to read more. Aside from the great story, whoever proofread this book gave me some really good laughs! The funniest was later on in the book: "Whether by foot or by bus (during increment weather)..." Maybe they meant that rain or snow kept increasing?
In any case, I highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction!
In any case, I highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction!
March 5, 2025
Parallel narratives of two star-crossed lovers at the end of slavery and their modern day descendants.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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