The sins of a favorite son rock a small Mississippi town in this taut Southern family drama.

Reverend Sabre Winfrey, shepherd of the Seven Seals Baptist Church, believes in God, his own privilege, and enterprise. Besides the barbershop and radio station he owns, he has an iron hand on every aspect of Dominion, Mississippi, society. He and his wife, Priscilla, have five boys; the youngest, Emanuel, is called Wonderboy—no one sings prettier, runs as fast, or turns as many heads. After a surprising encounter with a stranger, Wonderboy finds himself confronted by questions he’d never imagined, and his response will send shock waves through the entire community. Told from the point of view of the women who love these two men, Dominion illustrates how we enable the everyday violence and casual sins of the patriarchy.

I received an advance copy of this book courtesy of the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

Every now and then, you stumble on a book that feels less like a story and more like sitting in someone’s living room while they lay their whole truth bare. That’s how this book landed for me. It’s a short novel, but it doesn’t waste a single breath. Addie E. Citchens writes with a kind of precision that makes every character feel alive, messy, and unforgettable.

The book drops us straight into Dominion, Mississippi, a town shaped and ruled by Reverend Sabre Winfrey. Reverend Winfrey is a complicated man. He’s charismatic at the pulpit, and slippery when it comes to fidelity. His womanizing ways aren’t exactly a secret, though his sharp, witty wife Priscilla hasn’t managed to catch him red-handed… yet. The Winfrey family radiates influence, but it’s the cracks in their “perfect” facade that make the story so gripping.

Then there’s Wonderboy, the baby of the family and the town’s golden child. Fast, talented, charming, and adored by nearly everyone. But that shine masks trouble brewing underneath. His choices and secrets become the spark that sets off a chain of revelations and heartbreaks, not just for his family but for Dominion itself.

Diamond, though, was the one who grabbed me by the throat. She’s a young woman carrying scars of abandonment, clinging to the dream that Wonderboy will marry her and finally give her the sense of belonging she’s never had. Her yearning and her stubborn belief in that future, made her the most complex and heartbreaking figure in the book for me. Watching her hope rub up against harsh reality was both beautiful and devastating.

The brilliance of this novel lies in the voices. The story is told through the women who orbit these men (with a few chapters from the men’s POV), and each one has a distinct sharpness. You don’t just read their words, you feel the weight of their experiences. Reading it felt like eavesdropping on confessions too raw to share out loud, and the audiobook elevated that even further. Andre Giles, Angel Pean, Bahni Turpin, and Dion Graham give these characters so much texture that I honestly forgot I was listening to actors. It was like the characters themselves had pulled up chairs beside me and decided to talk.

And let me tell you: nothing about this story goes the way you think it will. It’s full of sharp turns. There were moments that made me laugh out loud and others that had me extremely frustrated. For such a slim novel, it carries real weight. Citchens doesn’t linger or soften the edges; she swoops in with bold characters, lays the truth bare, and exits without apology.

I think that what impressed me the most was how much was packed into such a tight story. No filler. No wasted space. Just pure, layered drama that explores power, family, desire, and the small pains we excuse every day. The book also refuses to let you off the hook. It holds up a mirror to patriarchy, faith, and community complicity in a way that lingers long after you turn the last page.

By the end, I just sat there stunned. It’s the kind of book you immediately want to talk about with someone else, to pick apart the characters’ choices and argue about what you would have done differently. If you’re looking for a family saga that’s fast-paced but emotionally loaded, with characters who will haunt you long after you’ve finished, this is it. It’s rich. It’s juicy. It’s unforgettable.