pretty cool and well written story. The characters were excellent, the story told was great, and the prose was effective. I did feel there were too many POVs, but in general it was pretty good. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

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 a 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 country during 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.

My take:
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 With the historical references within the book, I plan on picking up a physical copy- I would love to read what sources influenced this book and can completely see this being adapted for the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.

This multi-generational story, spanning from the end of the Civil War all the way through the pandemic, touched my heart. We meet Tirzah and Harrison, two lovers who long to be reunited after the war. From there, the narrative weaves through the lives of their descendants in the most brilliant, beautiful way. The interconnection of stories and characters was absolutely stunning. Thank you HarperCollins for the eARC!

Zeal is everything I want to see when I pick up a historical fiction — well-researched, emotional and awe-inspiring.

Unraveling the centuries-long connection between Ardelia and Oliver through the journeys of their ancestors was a staggering feat. At times I found myself trying to mentally create family trees as I read in order to keep it all straight.

The overall writing was romantic and well-researched, making for an intriguing read that I quite literally couldn’t put down for long before I found myself yearning to pick it back up to see how their stories would end.

By seeing Tirzah and Harrison’s beginnings and the immense amount of love, family and belonging they were able to create despite every barrier and heartbreak, I left having a deeper appreciation not only for the connections between the characters, but also an overwhelming gratitude for the fact that I am even here on this earth. Stories like these always remind me what a miracle it is that I stand here today, and that I have all those who came before me to thank.

Parallel narratives of two star-crossed lovers at the end of slavery and their modern day descendants. The historical part was riveting, but the modern day couple was irritating and emotionally exhausting. Also, not ready to read books that take place during the Covid lockdown.

Now this is how you do a saga. I found myself immediately drawn in with this one. I am so thankful that there are writers who want to tackle this part of history and build upon it, continue to breathe life into it. I really do think this was fantastic and I cannot wait for others to read it.

An intergenerational tale that I didn’t need a family tree to follow. I was intimately invested in each character’s journey to themselves and one another. A tale of the thread of zealousness that keeps families together and defines what family means after enduring war, forced labor, life-saving migration, and the struggle to survive in the U.S. It is clear that after Jerkins wrote Wandering Strange Lands about her research of her own family and the intergenerational tale, Caul Baby, she is a master weaver of historical narratives. As an archivist, I thoroughly enjoyed the efforts of the families to maintain their documents. We can be encouraged that this maintenance will outlive us and inspire future generations.