bBest Book of the Year/bbrbNPR  iThe Washington Post  biBoston Globe/i /b TIME USA Today  Entertainment Weekly  Real Simple  Parade Buzzfeed Electric Literature LitHub BookRiot PopSugar Goop Library Journal  BookBub  /i KCRW /bbrbrb Finalist for the National Book Awardbrb One of the iNew York Times/i Notable Books of the Yearbr/b One of the iNew York Times/i Best Historical Fiction of the Year/bbrb Instant iNew York Times/i Bestseller br/bbrbA singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence./b brbrIsaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man a fellow slave seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation's harmony. brbr With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries of ancestors and future generations to come culminates in a climactic reckoning, iThe Prophets /ifearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.