ONE BLOOD

DENENE MILLNER is a six-time New York Times bestselling author, Emmy Award-nominated TV show host and award-winning journalist who has written thirty-one books, among them Taraji P. Henson’s Around the Way Girl and the picture book Early Sunday Morning. Millner is also the editorial director of Denene Millner Books, an award-winning imprint that has published two Caldecott Honor books, a Newbery Honor Book, the Kirkus Prize for Children’s Literature and a Southern Book Award. A MacDowell Fellow, Millner has written essays for the New York Times, Glamour and NPR, which hosted her critically-acclaimed podcast, “Speakeasy with Denene.” Millner is a graduate of Hofstra University. She lives in Atlanta with her two daughters and their goldendoodle, Franklin.

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“In delicious, decadent prose, Denene Millner does what few authors can–compose a sprawling multigenerational tale that is necessary American reading. One Blood sings the song of the South in a voice that is heartbreaking, hopeful, and resilient. A masterpiece.” —Tara M. Stringfellow, national bestselling author of Memphis

“From the first page, I was captivated by this utterly poetic saga…of three extraordinary Black women. At once heartbreaking and healing, One Blood is a powerful meditation on the ties that bind. Simply masterful!” —Tia Williams, New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June

“One Blood is the haunting, yet wonderfully written story of three women, Grace, LoLo and Rae, who are connected through time, circumstances…and more than just blood. From the first pages, Denene Millner had me captivated with the intimate stories and too many heartbreaking moments of these women as they struggled against every adversity, fighting to find their place and their voice in this world. With prose that was so beautiful, I often paused to read a sentence twice, I was left thinking about these women and how their lives were eternally linked, long after I finished this amazing novel.” — New York Times bestselling author Victoria Christopher Murray

“Denene Millner is a masterful weaver of words, characters, and worlds. ONE BLOOD is a beautiful, brilliant American epic that speaks to Black motherhood, female relationship, marriage, family, legacy, love and healing. It is simultaneously deeply intimate and grandly sweeping.” —Tarana Burke, New York Times bestselling author of Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement

“Clear your calendar before you turn the first page of Denene Miller’s irresistibly engaging One Blood because you won’t be able to put this compulsively readable novel aside once you start. A profound meditation on generational trauma, Miller’s characters leap off the page. Grace, Lolo, and Rae’s stories will become your stories, stories that will linger long after you turn the final page.” —Sarah Bird, author of Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen

1. Maw Maw is a midwife and healer in the town of Rose—a needed commodity in a rural community where health resources are scarce. Why is she only tolerated by the people who need her help?

2. What is your initial impression of Bassey through the lens of Maw Maw, the church community, and through hearing Bassey’s own voice? What is your understanding of her ambitions, and what role did they play in her ultimate tragedy?

3. Mr. Aaron employs bravery, defiance, and strength to stave off terror and destruction meted out by white neighbors against the Black citizens of Rose—actions that counter the historical narrative that Black men either suffered under the weight of the Jim Crow South or met its violence with peaceful resistance. Why was he able to get away with his version of defiance?

4. Grace loses her ability to see into the future and connect with the dead when her physical bond with Maw Maw is broken. Why do you think it went away? Why do you think she was able to get it back while in labor?

5. LoLo’s parenting abilities are informed by her father’s abandonment, the stern brutality of The Mothers and the physical and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of her cousins. How does that upbringing affect her parenting? Does she think she’s a good mother? Do you?

6. Tommy is crazy about LoLo and delivers on his promise to take care of her and their family, but he commits the ultimate betrayal in their marriage. Can he have a secret family and still be a good man?

7. LoLo warns Rae not to marry Roman. Still, Rae pushes through out of love for not just her intended but also for the institution of marriage. Was their relationship doomed from the start?

8. Though she is angry at her father for cheating on her mother, Rae does the same thing—run to the arms of another man when her relationship issues with Roman become insurmountably difficult. Is there a difference between her affair and that of her father’s? Does Rae’s affair help or harm her?

9. Roman’s ambition is to be an author, and Rae agrees to be the family earner while balancing a traditional role in the household so that Roman can focus on his goal. Rae sees this, initially, as being a supportive wife to her husband, but LoLo thinks Roman is using her daughter. Who is right?

10. In her most desperate moment, LoLo tried to die by suicide—laying down in the creek water in her backyard. Years later, Rae visited that same creek in a dream and was instructed to walk across the water. What role does water play in One Blood, and what is its significance for LoLo, Rae, and Grace?

11. Maw Maw says that “being scared of blood is like being scared of yo’self.” What do you think she means by this? Can one come to know oneself outside of their own “blood?”