Have you ever wondered about the deep connections between women? Well, buckle up, because 'The Wilderness' is a novel that dives into sisterhood, especially between five women throughout their adult lives.
The story follows Desire and Danielle, sisters whose strained relationship is the heart of the narrative. Their journey towards reconciliation is heartwarming. Then there's January, a young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy with a man she doesn't love. Her story adds another layer of emotional depth to the mix, making it even more relatable.
Monique, a spirited librarian, is my favorite character. She's brave, unwavering in her beliefs, and always there for her friends. And let's not forget Nakia, an aspiring entrepreneur in the restaurant industry.

Monique, a spirited librarian, is my favorite character. She's brave, unwavering in her beliefs, and always there for her friends. And let's not forget Nakia, an aspiring entrepreneur in the restaurant industry.
Now, I know the writing style might take some time to get used to, but once it settled into a rhythm, I was fully immersed in the story. The plot is intricate and well developed, and the characters are so relatable that you'll feel like you're right there with them.
If you're a fan of character driven stories, then
'The Wilderness' is definitely worth checking out.
It will leave a lasting impact on you.

Told over the course of about two decades, The Wilderness follows five Black women as they grow from young adulthood to midlife. Together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthood — overwhelming, mysterious and full of freedom and consequences — swoops in and stays.

Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique and Nakia are all at the start of some major moments, including careers, marriages, big-city lives and motherhood. I love that the women remained a constant in each other’s lives. As someone who’s had many friends over the years, I appreciate their dedication to one another. Especially through grief, tough times and inevitable changes. I was eager to read this for its exploration of friendship. The title couldn’t be more fitting because those years of figuring life out, truly feels as if you’re in the wild.

I thought this would be a fast read because of its length but you’ll want to take your time with it and truly get to know these women. I was rooting for them the entire time. Thank you to Netgalley, Angela Flournoy, and Harper Collin’s for the arc!

I loved the premise of the book and got really intrigued and moved by the first chapter. Sadly, I then slowly started to lose interest and ended up DNFing a bit over 20%. The narration was a little bit too disjointed for my liking (you switch both POVs and timelines between chapters). That being said, I felt that the writing was strong, the characters had flesh, and I'm sure this book will find its readers - it was just not the right fit for me.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was confusing from the first word. I could not get a grasp on setting or the characters. It may have gotten better, but I could not get past the first chapter.

This book was so fun and such an interesting concept. Angela Flournoy has very distinct writing. I fell in love with this book over and over again.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

**A Soul-Stirring Masterpiece – Angela Flournoy Triumphs Again!**

Angela Flournoy’s *The Wilderness* is a breathtaking novel that grips your heart from the first page and doesn’t let go. With lyrical prose and unflinching honesty, Flournoy explores the complexities of memory, identity, and human connection in a story that feels both intimate and epic.

The novel centers on a woman navigating the blurry line between reality and illusion, offering a deeply personal yet universally resonant portrayal of mental illness, family, and resilience. Flournoy’s characters are richly drawn, flawed, and profoundly human—each one echoing the quiet struggles and triumphs we all face.

What makes *The Wilderness* unforgettable is its emotional depth and narrative power. Flournoy doesn’t shy away from difficult topics, yet she treats them with grace, compassion, and insight. Her writing is luminous, each sentence crafted with intention and heart. It's a novel that makes you feel seen.

If you're looking for a book that challenges your mind and moves your spirit, *The Wilderness* is it. It’s not just a story—it’s an experience. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

**Read this book. Then tell everyone you know to read it too.**

i didn’t feel a connection or interest in this book like i thought i was going to have. the timeline and pov shifts were hard to follow at times, and i lost track of the story. it felt a little all over the place. i didn’t enjoy reading about covid or the rise of a machine state. i also didn’t really care for danielle. her treatment of her sister desiree was cold and it was almost as if she blamed her for how their grandfather treated her. that being said, i did enjoy the theme of friendship and sisterhood that permeated throughout. the cover was also stunning!

ultimately, this book pulled me in but i was left feeling unsatisfied; something was missing. it felt like the ending moved faster and i wish that had been the pace of the entire book. parts 3 & 4 felt like a totally different book than parts 1 & 2.

thank you to netgalley and mariner for a free arc in exchange for an honest review! all opinions are my own :)

I don't think I've read a story that captures friendship quite the way Angela Flournoy does in The Wilderness. The novel follows five women- Desiree, Danielle, Nakia, January, and Monique- from their early twenties into mid-adulthood. The novel traces their journey over the years as they navigate complicated relationships, career challenges, personal growth, and social justice issues (homelessness was a big one) all while confronting the realities of being Black women in America.

Each woman felt deeply relatable, despite their flaws and the chaos that sometimes unfolded in their life. What touched me the most was how they showed up for one another in moments of hardship. Their love for each other endured through grief, postpartum depression, and even the complications of being a little too dependent on each other (looking at you, Desiree).

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and found it meaningful. The timeline jumps took a little getting used to, but I believe they added to the story and encouraged you to take your time to process what Angela Flournoy was revealing through the lives of these women.

Release Date: September 16, 2025

Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC.

Absolutely going in my top 3 books of 2025!

Angela Flournoy managed to make me laugh, cry, gasp, sit with my thoughts and journal. She wrote this book with some much reality and nostalgia that I am still trying to explain how much I loved this book.

These characters are lovable and unique. Unforgettable is also another word because the Octavia Butler inspiration was also present, wow.

I will reread this on pub day and continue spreading love and admiration for this book. I absolutely appreciate the blackness and friendship amongst these women over the span of time. Life isn’t always about where your end up, but also the journey along the way.

oh my god this is easily one of my favorite books of all time. i want to reread it immediately but with the ability to annotate. the author perfectly captured the “i love her, but…” aspect of female friendships, and the characters were SO realistically developed and flawed. i cried a lot (and not just because im hormonal lol). the time jumps were so perfectly balanced, and the POV shifts fit super well with the arc of the plot. any adult—but especially adult women—MUST read The Wilderness at some point in their lives (but preferably asap so we can’t talk about it). 6 stars. no notes.

2.5 Rounded up. Had a hard time staying interested in this book. Part of that was due to reading it online, a format that sometimes does not work very well for me. Also the number of characters and their stories was difficult for me to keep track of. Do not recommend.

First thing first thing you did the publishers and NetGalley for providing me this book and exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


I had anticipated this book for a while, but unfortunately, it felt extremely flat. The characters were extremely unreliable and I just didn’t enjoy any of the stories. I also felt like it read like short stories, and there was no cohesiveness to the whole book. Another thing that I didn’t like was the fact that I felt like it was a chore to have to pick up.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.

My rating for this book is a 3.5/5. This book was honestly really difficult for me to get into at first and I don't think I truly enjoyed the book until part 2. Once I got the 3rd and 4th parts I felt like I was just reading to finish instead of reading to enjoy the story. That may be also a result of how different the last few chapters were from the beginning half of the book. I will say both the differing point of views and nonchronological story telling made the story hard to follow at times.

I enjoyed the premise of the story and I enjoyed how it explored how complex friendships and relationships can be. I did enjoy Angela Flournoy's writing and characters and will check out her future books after this debut.

3.75⭐️

I really enjoyed this story about love, friendship, grief, sisterhood, and so much more! It took me a little while to really get into but there were so many key points and moments that hit close to home.

The multiple POVs and the overall flow of the story was well paced and gave life to the plot. It definitely reads as more of a character study than a plot driven novel.

Really glad I picked this one up! Thank you to Net Galley and Mariner Books for this digital arc copy.

This book surprised, delighted and destroyed me. These are such real, vivid characters with complex feelings and friendships. I found myself a little thrown by the jumping timelines and perspectives. This is a book about Black women and their perspectives and it really shines a light on issues I don’t experience - it’s a book all intersectional feminists should read.

Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is novel about five Black women whose lives intersect with each other. This book covers the complexities of romance and motherhood, mental health, the challenges of being Black in academia and in librarianship, being Black in the food and restaurant industry, class in the Black community and so much more. While some characters got more attention than others, you do get to know these five women and watch their journeys over the course of twenty years. We don’t have enough books like these where it’s about Black women just living their lives, and not having racism be at the center of their storylines. I appreciated the representation of a Black librarian. Flournoy’s writing was engaging and there was great character development. I wonder if there will be multiple narrators for the audiobook. I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a friendship novel than spans decades.

Set in the aughts to the present day (and near future), The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy tells the stories of a group of Black women as they navigate defining moments of their lives. Desiree, Nakia, January, and Monique' relationships with each other ebb and flow throughout the book. Ostensibly the story of 4 friends, instead Flournoy depicts an authentic outlook on adult friendships--not always consistent over the years, some members of the group closer than others, but nevertheless a safety net that you fall back to in trying times.

I especially loved Desiree and Nakia's characters from the get-go. We begin the story with Desiree, but Nakia is the thread running through the book that holds it together. Even before we meet her, it's Nakia that is mentioned in each POV switch. Nakia is also a lesbian, and I loved reading about her romances.

One critique I have for the book: I would have liked a proper POV chapter for Monique. Her blog posts, while an interesting change of pace, failed to resonate emotionally the way that the other characters' chapters did. As a reader, I still didn't know or connect with Monique by the end of the book.

The title comes from the metaphor of adult life as a wilderness–unforgiving and hard to navigate. But it's through connections with other people that we can learn to navigate this expanse.
The book took a very unexpected turn towards the end. It felt like a genre change akin to that in The Old Drift by Naomi Serpell--contemporary or historical realism that shifts into speculative fiction. The backdrop for the emotional fourth act, it left me reeling. It's taken me a while to compose my thoughts for this review, but I've come to the realization that the ending makes sense as the conclusion of Desiree's arc. The different perspectives allow us to see even small triumphs in even devastating moments.

Overall, Flouney's new book is a beautifully quilted work. The disparate pieces come together to make a story worth reading.

This book is about friendships, but also so much more…

Desiree, January, Monique, and Nakia are four close friends trying to figure out the complexities of life together. The novel follows them through the years as they struggle with their relationships, careers, and finding themselves while also existing as Black women in America. Each character is extremely complex and the situations the women navigate are all too real, which is often eye-opening.

The last few chapters of the novel are quite a bit different from the rest. It actually reminded me of the novel The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell, as this book took a similar turn at the end (and I would recommend it also to anybody who hasn’t read it). Suffice to say the book highlights some very real racial and socioeconomic disparities in America, and then reminds us of what the future can look like if these trends continue. While the story of friendship is beautiful, the real world implications are also such an important takeaway, making this book all the more meaningful.

There were a few things that weren’t my favorite though. I’m not sure that the book benefited much from jumping around to different years as I feel it would have read just as well in chronological order, and saved me some page flipping trying to figure out the timeline. And I know there was some attempt to explain the title of the book within the book but honestly… still don’t love it. I feel like it doesn’t match the content, despite the explanation.

Also… I wish we would have gotten more from Monique because she felt like the forgotten friend who was hardly given any content, and I would have enjoyed hearing more from her besides the little we got. The friendship just didn’t feel very equal, but maybe that was intentional.

I thought this was beautifully written. The prose is lovely, and I appreciated the author’s attention to setting. I wish we had gotten a little bit more background on all the friendships and relationships. It seemed like a lot of the book focused on the prickly aspects of long friendships, like the little things your friends do that exasperate you, but you keep coming back. I was missing what kept bringing these characters back together.

The frequent POV changes toward the end were a little abrupt for me. I would have liked to linger a bit more in each character’s reactions and emotions. That said, there are wonderful portraits in this book, and I really enjoyed the author’s ambition in crafting all these different storylines across a wide time span.

The characters had very realistic struggles which made the story feel relatable. I saw the beauty in how the characters showed up for one another despite their individual circumstances. I felt the book was very wordy which led me to struggling to complete it.