Wow. This was a gripping, emotional family drama that I could not tear my eyes away from. Everyone is fighting their own battles as the family fights the larger battle of land loss from heir property. I appreciate how the author writes real stories of little talked about issues.

A great pick for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, dysfunctional family stories, and love, lies, and redemption.

Has anyone read this yet??? This was one of the best books I’ve read this year! It was realistic, emotional and engaging. It was written with such intensity and grit. It was a sobering look at families and each person had secrets, struggles. Parts were so heartfelt that I’ll be thinking about it for awhile. I almost put it down in the beginning because the writing was rough, crude? Maybe I mean to realistic to start? But it brought me right up against the rawness of this narrative. The writing swept me away and I couldn’t stop reading it. I even cried happy tears at the end. Whew… I highly recommend this well done novel.
Thanks Sourcebooks Landmark via NetGalley.

This book was everything. It had me hooked from beginning to end and had me running the gamut of emotions.

Told from multiple POVs, we meet the four Solomon siblings and are immersed in their lives and their struggles after the death of their father, King Solomon. Faced with the threat of losing their legacy they must come to terms with their pasts before they are free to look ahead to their futures.

The story touches on many serious issues, including grief, homophobia, family estrangement, and sexual exploitation. Terah Shelton Harris handles it all beautifully, skillfully juggling each of these threads and drawing us firmly into the lives of the complex characters she has created. Her writing was evocative, making it easy to feel invested in the siblings’ insecurities and their struggles as they tried to save their home, heal long-standing estrangements, and free themselves from the burdens and traumas that were handed down to them from earlier generations.

This is a story about real life. It’s a story about family, grief, love, and forgiveness. It’s about the events and the people who tie us to our pasts, and who also underly how we view our presents and our futures. And it’s a story about hope and living a life true to yourself.

This one will stick with me for a long time.

Thanks NetGally and Sourcebooks Landmark for the advanced copy.

Family saga revolving around an ancestral house and a deeply flawed family. The patriarch King has died and his four children are left to pick up the pieces. They have to confront their fraught relationships with each other while dealing with the imminent possibility that they may lose their inheritance. Each of them has been keeping a secret of some sort. Learnt about Heir laws affecting the Black community for the first time. None of the characters were particularly likeable and the book could have been a bit shorter. If you are a fan of succession drama and family sagas or if you love to read about sibling dynamics, this is the book for you.

Thank you Netgalley, Terah Shelton Harris and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC

Long After We Are Gone was a fantastic sophomore release from Terah Shelton Harris! I am a fan of complex characters and layered stories, and this book blew me away. I was reading every chance I could.

When the head of the Solomon family passes, unexpectedly, his four children have to come together and decide the fate of the “Kingdom”. The book highlights the importance of having advanced directives, wills, last wishes etc. estate planning is very complicated but it was explained in a way that is understandable. I loved that the author exposes large companies who take advantage of those who have less knowledge. It’s truly predatory behavior. ☹️

The four siblings couldn’t be more different from the other. Each had their own barriers that they needed to overcome and face throughout the story. I sympathized a lot with Tokey’s character because she suffered in silence and didn’t have a “huge role” assigned to her. But she was the key to the family understanding their history and helped them to make a choice- “It always comes down to choices, and they chose.” This final sentence was the best description of the story. Choices had to be made, egos set aside, personal agendas, included. I was shocked by some of the things that were uncovered but also proud that the siblings were able to work together. I don’t think the family land was cursed, it was just time for a new beginning. Loved this book!

I am going to start this review by saying that I have come to the conclusion that I am not a big fan of family dramas. I thought this book was really well written - the characters incredible, the drama well done. I could picture all the characters, their issues and where they were and who they were with. That being said, I just find family dramas to be exhausting. There are TOO many people. Too many issues. Just too much to keep track of. I feel as if I wanted more from all the stories, instead of more stories about a different person. So, if you are a big fan of Family Dramas, this one will give you everything you want. And ALL the emotions, too. 
Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

Thank you to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOK Landmark, and the author for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Solomon children have lost their father and must all come home to honor him and his last wishes-not to let builders start building a community on their land. Between lies, secrets, dating relationships, and violent behaviors, each adult child has some issues to work out. In order to save the Solomon dynasty, each person has to come to terms with their personal issues and think about what is good for the family. I think you will be pleased with how hard they work for a positive outcome. I enjoyed this book.

"Long After We Are Gone" by Terah Shelton Harris captivates with its rich tapestry of family dynamics, secrets, and the struggle for identity against the backdrop of ancestral land under threat. Harris weaves a poignant narrative, drawing readers into the lives of the Solomon siblings as they confront the impending loss of their heritage.

The author skillfully explores the complexities of familial relationships, delving into the depths of each character's struggles and secrets. From Junior's poignant internal conflict to Tokey's quest for belonging, every character is vividly rendered with layers of emotion and authenticity. Harris masterfully portrays the intricacies of human nature, showing how the weight of expectations and the burden of secrets can shape individuals and relationships.

The novel's structure, and alternating viewpoints, add depth and richness to the storytelling, allowing readers to glimpse into the hearts and minds of each sibling as they navigate their shared crisis. Harris creates a compelling narrative through these alternating perspectives that unfolds with tension and emotional resonance, keeping readers engaged until the final page.

"Long After We Are Gone" is more than just a story about saving a piece of land; it's a profound exploration of love, loss, and the search for identity. Harris's prose is lyrical and evocative, vividly portraying the North Carolina landscape and the Solomon family's struggles. The novel's themes resonate long after the last page is turned, reminding readers of the enduring power of family bonds and the importance of letting go of the past to embrace the future.

"Long After We Are Gone" is a poignant and thought-provoking novel that should be savored. Terah Shelton Harris has crafted a compelling story that lingers in the mind, showcasing her talent for storytelling and deep understanding of the human experience. This book is a must-read for anyone who appreciates heartfelt family dramas with a literary flair.

Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris is a family drama (maybe even melodrama) that also raises important questions about land inheritance among families of those who were formerly enslaved. I was interested in this book because of those issues and it was an involving read as it is told from numerous perspectives.

My major issue with the book is that no one seems to have a functional life (surely out of 4 children one could have survived in better emotional shape?). While it's true that each child is scarred because of their family upbringing, it's just that so many scenes result in BIG emotions or BIG outcomes-- it just seemed a bit melodramatic to me.

The author has a real gift for bringing a scene to life and Tokey's early scenes are especially vivid and heartbreaking, so on balance for the author's ability to bring a topical subject vividly to life I'll give it 4 stars and I will read other books by this author.

Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris is LIVE! 💐💐💐💐💐
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Terah, Terah, Terah....I was ready not ready! 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thank you Source Books Landmark Publishers for this arc! It was an absolute pleasure! Terah is a force!
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An anticipated read that did not disappoint. The layers and multiple POV were woven together beautifully to bring the pages alive!
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Terah had me committed, wrapped up, at the edge of my seat, shouting out loud, cheering, teary, praying and so reflective by the end. Just wow! 👏🏿

Are they cursed? Were they cursed? When do they let it be? Is it worth fighting for? How do they fight back?

"History seems to be repeating itself" - the sentiments echoed throughout this story as we followed the Solomon siblings. The sudden death of the Patriarch reveals and forces each sibling to come clean in order to move forward as life as they knew it turned inside out. Their collective futures were hinged on them trusting each other with the messiness and trauma of their individual lives! Powerful!
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Terah gave us angst, anger, love, passion, devotion and desire that were palpable off the pages.
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Families are messy! At the end of this story you will be questioning whether there are any families that are not messy.
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You have to experience it! Happy Reading!

"Long After We Are Gone" by Terah Shelton Harris presents a compelling exploration of family, secrets, and personal struggles. The story centers on the Solomon siblings, who return to their ancestral home in North Carolina after their father's death to save their family's legacy from a development company.

The positives: The narrative has excellent character development, offering a rich portrayal of each sibling's life. Junior, secretly in love with another man despite being married to a woman; Mance, struggling with his temper and criminal past as he tries to be better for his newborn baby; CeCe, a lawyer who has dug herself into a hole with seemingly no way out; and Tokey, feeling out of place and filling the void with harmful behaviors. These complex characters provide depth and emotional resonance, making their individual and collective journeys engaging. While they aren't particularly likable, they are well-drawn and I had a great understanding of each.

However, the novel has, in my opinion, significant drawbacks. One major issue is the overabundance of seemingly unnecessary sex scenes. I am by no means a prude, but these moments often feel out of place and do not contribute to the advancement of the plot, instead distracting from the central narrative. Additionally, the pacing suffers in the last 30% of the book, where the plot goes off the rails, losing focus and coherence as it delves into increasingly dramatic and convoluted developments. This shift detracts from the fairly strong foundation laid earlier in the novel and leaves the reader feeling disconnected from the story's resolution. The story also spends a considerable amount of time detailing the characters' personal issues, which were intriguing, but majorly neglected the central plot—the fight to save their home. This imbalance makes the narrative feel sluggish, especially in the last third of the book, where the plot seems to lose momentum. I struggled to care about how the story would resolve.

Despite these flaws, the book does shed light on important topics, such as intergenerational trauma, family expectations, and the fight to preserve one's heritage. The portrayal of heir property and the challenges faced by the Solomon family in protecting their land is both educational and moving.

Overall, while "Long After We Are Gone" excels in character depth and emotional storytelling, its excessive focus on irrelevant sexual content and a plot that spirals out of control in the final sections undermine its potential. It remains a worthwhile read for those who appreciate intricate family dramas but may disappoint readers seeking a more consistent and focused narrative. This was not for me, but there are readers I think this can and will work for.

Thank you to Terah Shelton Harris, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me a digital ARC of the new book by Torah Shelton Harris. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 5 stars!

"Don't let the white man take the house." Those were the last words King Soloman says to his son before he dies. The Kingdom, their ancestral home in North Carolina, is now being threatened. All four Soloman siblings must fight together to save their home, as well as the secrets each are keeping from each other and themselves. Junior, the oldest son and married to his wife for 11 years, is secretly in love with another man. Second son, Mance, can't control his temper, which has landed him in prison more than once. CeCe, the oldest daughter and a lawyer in New York City, has embezzled thousands of dollars from her firm's clients. Youngest daughter, Tokey, wonders why she doesn't seem to fit into this family, which has left an aching hole in her heart that she tries to fill in harmful ways.

This was a beautifully-written family saga with perfectly imperfect characters just trying to live up to their legacy without destroying themselves. It's about the power of family and generational trauma, and mostly about communication - the troubles that come about when we don't communicate as well as the power of passing down stories. It's an eye-opening look into another way that Blacks in the south lost their family lands - be sure to read the author's note on that subject. Highly recommended!

Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris

This five star book is just the kind I love: Teach me something new and entertain me as well. Send me back to reread a sentence or paragraph because it’s so deliciously written, once is not enough.

The four Solomon siblings are hiding secrets from each other, and maybe from themselves as well. After they return to fictional Diggs, NC for their father’s funeral, their stories carefully unfold.
They each carry a ton of guilt, unfulfilled dreams and wrongs they’ve done.

There is such well designed tension and drama in some scenes that I literally held my breath. These flawed characters will have you rooting for them individually and as a family, as they try to save the “heir property” they assume they have inherited.

I cannot say enough good things about this book and the superb writing by Terah Shelton Harris. I will highly recommend it to all my readers. (Published by Sourcebooks Landmark)

This was one of my favorite reads in a while! The author had the ability to make you feel like you knew these characters inside and out. This takes you through the struggles of a family trying to put their own lives back in order after their father had passed away. King was their father and he had ran what they referred to as the Kingdom and of course after his death there were people trying to take their land from them including King’s brother Shad.
The heartbreak that each one of the adult children was going through in terms to realize who they really were and why they were self destructive.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I loved this book so much. After the death of King Solomon, the four siblings Junior, Cece, Mance, and Tokey have to figure out how to keep their ancestral land from being taken. The four siblings are given their own personal story woven together with the story of their ancestral land and family. Terah did an amazing job of allowing us to get to know each one separately to show their personal connection to their land, the town and themselves. They each have their personal struggles and struggles with family secrets we find as well. My most loved character and character that broke my heart was Tokey. While Tokey is the youngest, she was the glue of the family.

Something else that I love is when I learn something new. This one gave me real information that I wasn’t aware of and had me reading and researching more on. I also loved the authors note and hearing that her books are inspired by real people and circumstance. That makes for a personal story even though it is a work of fiction!

If you want a moving story about family history, how it effects the family, family drama, family and individual struggles, family secrets, and how a family can come together when needed, pick this up today! I know I will because 𝗜 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳!

If you look at a family from the outside, they are happy and eager to insure the family's interests are protected. But looking at the family dynamics from the inside, there are broken connections and jealousy threatening the future. LONG AFTER WE ARE GONE allows the readers to watch the family's foundation being chipped away from inside and out.

King Solomon.....what a name......is the patriarch, managing the compound that has been in his family for more than 200 years,,,,ever since the end of slavery. Upon his death, his 4 children have returned to their childhood home to honor their father and settle his estate. This is the back story that will lead readers to google "heir property" and give us a front row seat that is the drama of the Solomons. Harris' story telling abilities shine in a way we seldom see. She turns this fictional family into our neighbors and friends as they struggle with personal problems on top of the threat of losing the only constant in their lives. The book pulled me into the North Carolina community and I stayed there until the end of the story. 5 easy stars.

Good book particularly for a reading group discussion ... interesting story about adult siblings ready to inherit the family estate ... characters were well developed, each had their own flaws and problems ... and many secrets withheld from family and town residents ...

But the underlying issue in this story is inheriting land when decedent did not have a will. Unfortunately, this is factual and not fiction.

I like the author's writing style, her subject matter and how the story flowed. Definitely plan to read her first book, and hopefully more in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC.

Long story short y’all, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! 🥹

From the moment I started this story I was completely immersed into this story, the writing— her play on words, chefs kiss! 🤌🏾

Terah created these characters, in Diggs, North Carolina all based off of “real and unique circumstances that happen to real people and are not widely discussed”. What happens in this story is heartbreaking and then to find out these are things of the past makes it hit differently even more. 4 siblings, Junior, Mance, CeCe (😒🤦🏽‍♀️) and my sweet, sweet Tokey, each harboring their own secrets, each reliving the past— I don’t know that I can ever forget any of them. I know I most certainly won’t forget Ellis— talk about an ultimate book boyfriend! 😮‍💨

There’s extortion, greed, lies, secrets, drama, abuse and blackmailing! If you love family drama, this is for you. If you love Black stories, this is for you.

- Walk into a store today, purchase this book.
- Request/Borrow it from your library.
- If you have an eARC, drop your other reads and read this!!

Long after gone follows the Solomon family in. North Carolina. The Solomon’s are four siblings who are united under their patriarch, king, whose family has lived on land called the kingdom since the 1700s. On kings deathbed, his dying words are “don’t let the white man take this land.” The four Solomon children return to the kingdom to save the land from white developers who are trying to land under a North Carolina property heir law. During this battle, the four siblings begin to expose their secrets and the lives they are hiding begin to come to the surface and they must face their troubles head-on, while trying to hold on to the kingdom.
There is a lot to this book, even though it is a quick read. The four siblings are complex and human and all have varying crises in their lives as they fight for their homes. There is a lot here about racism, ownership, class, and the little known law that the Solomon children find themselves up against.
This is a truly important read, well-written, informative, and emotional.
Thanks to the publisher for providing the arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Long After We Are Gone is the story of the Solomon family, who have resided in the town of Diggs, North Carolina for many years and family generations. King Solomon, a carpenter/woodworker and father of four has passed away, bringing all four adult children back the family land, called The Kingdom, to say goodbye and make arrangements for how they will handle the land. Each sibling has their own serious life issues going on, creating much drama, and old family secrets are revealed as well. As the siblings come together to fight for the Kingdom, they find themselves learning to live and love all over again.