Down south family drama vibes will always suck me right on in and this was a great read from start to finish.
The story circles around two women. Reverend Sabre Winfield Jr and his wife Priscilla, known as the First Lady of the Seven Seals Missionary Baptist Church. Priscilla and the Reverend have five sons, a prominent place in their society- and a loveless marriage which leads to Priscilla looking the other way over his infidelities in order to maintain her image.
Diamond is a teenage girl without family, who was taken in by Maggie and is simply trying to cope and survive, seeking affection and relationship.
Dominion tells the story of the two women and their relationship to one of the sons, Emmanuel "Wonder Boy" and how they react when dark circumstances confront the family.
CItchen really leans into the roles of power dynamics within families and societies- a desire to close rank and protect ones own.
There are a ton of trigger warnings in this book so please be mindful.

To be published August 19, 2025- thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the early read.

Complex black southern family drama in the baptist church. The story is about the Winfrey family, Pastor Winfrey not only leads the church but also has a grip on most of the business in the area. To say that their influence has significant local reach is an understatement. Soon we discover that this is too much influence. The narrative focuses mainly around the "first lady" of the church, Priscilla Winfrey, the wife of the pastor. The church has long depended on the free labor of pastor's wives, and it is clear in this story that she is doing 90% of his job.

The man is the head of the family but the woman is the neck that holds the head up and turns the neck in any way she needs to.

Long narratives and so many layers of understanding. You are going to want to read this multiple times and you will pick up on symbolism and the meanings you miss the first time around. The themes are both obvious and subtle, sometimes in the same story. It is a book that could (and probably should) be studied by college students studying books with themes of 20th century patriarchy within black culture.

Audiobook review- the performance in the audiobook is simply outstanding. I loved all of the narrators, and the internal dialogue really made the characters come alive to me. That said, I want to read slowly, once I read this book, I almost immediately went back to the beginning to read a second time. In order to fully appreciate this book I want to annotate/study the physical copy.

<b>Themes</b>
Patriarchy, how powerful men in communities lose moral compass
Leadership in the black community
Strong women and how they lie to themselves and each other
How the late 20th century black protestant communities became perpetuators of internalized racism
The offshoots of patriarchy- spiritual trauma, purity culture

Thank you to NetGalley and macMillan Audio for the ALC. Book to be published August 19, 2025.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC of this novel.

Wow. This is a powerhouse debut. This starts with almost a case study of a small town and the family who really control the culture. Before you know it, the story shifts and really grabs onto you. As a mother, this resonated very deeply and as a woman it hit on another level as well.

Highly highly recommend.

5 stars

Citchens accomplishes so much with great efficiency here. Readers access characters, their secrets, their relaitonships, and their extremes, and this is overwhelming in the very best way.

I came into this novel knowing only that it was coming in with high recs from both known reviewers and known only to me reviewers, and I'm glad I had no idea where I was going or how I'd get there. There are various motifs that may have caused me to forgo this read or to be less enthusiastic about it, and while that's not an approach I recommend for sensitive readers (because there are a number of CWs folks will find useful), I am so glad that this was my path this time.

When you are known by the masses as Wonderboy, you are bound to be trouble, and this concept of people and circumstances hosting simultaneous complicated truths pervades this novel. The secrets are almost suffocating because Citchens creates a remarkable sense of place and develops these characters so believably. My only minor gripe is that I wanted to spend more time peeping on these folks, which is the very best "problem" a novel can present.

As soon as I finished the book, I immediately started a second listen. I was so focused on what was going to happen and how characters would respond, and I'm looking forward to being more intentional with centering the structure and style this round. I also loved the audio version of this and recommend this modality when and where available. I can't wait to read more from this author.