This story was a bit too intense for me but I think it’s an important piece of literature with a story to be told.

I enjoyed reading this story about family, secrets and honor. The Kingdom is a 200 acre generational property that King Solomon has vowed to preserve and protect. But when he dies it’s up to his children to uphold his legacy. Can they come together and put not only their sibling drama aside but the secrets they each have, and save their ancestral home from a development company who wants to turn it into a resort?
This story touches on so many aspects such as heir property and the scheming that’s used to underhandedly rob people of their homes and property that have been in their families for generations. The Solomon siblings have so much going on in their lives: CeCe doing whatever it takes to maintain the charade of her life, Mance trying to control his anger and be a father and stay out of trouble, Junior wanting to live in his truth while not being overshadowed by his younger brother and Tokey dealing with her identity and food issues. Ellis is an honorary member of the family and he’s just trying to keep them together and hope they see it’s each other that will make them stronger. King may be gone but his presence is still formidable in the Kingdom. Family secrets, grief, deception and acceptance plays out in this family’s quest to save their land and honor their father.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

Well written and intriguing story!

Family secrets and jealousies are the foundation of this novel. Quite a fascinating story and well written. Worth the read.

This book was….different than I was expecting. Overall it was an okay story but I don’t feel like I knew the characters enough to really care what happened to them or their property. This was a bit slower paced than I would have liked but I did finish it. It wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t the best by this author either. Either way, I’ll always read this author’s books.

What a fascinating and interesting book. I thoroughly loved Long After We Are Gone. The characters were so deep and complicated with stories that slowly unwind.

These four children can't be more different in some ways. And yet often more alike than it seems. Each has dealt with their childhood in different ways. It's made them vastly different people. Yet, each of them has serious issues and must face them through the course of the book. Entwined with these amazing characters and their lives is an eye opening history of North Carolina, race relations and real estate laws and traditions. I was not only highly entertained, I learned so much!

I highly recommend this book to any reader! Brava Ms. Harris.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved Terah Shelton Harris’ book 𝑂𝑛𝑒 𝑆𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑎ℎ, so I was excited to see what she had in store for us next.


This is a captivating and powerful family drama!


When their father, King Solomon, dies, the Solomon siblings reconvene at their North Carolina family home. His final wishes were that the “white man” not take his home. Now, it’s up to his children to fight for their legacy.


As we hear from each adult sibling, we see their lives are filled with lies, pain, and mistakes. We begin to understand them better, their grief, and their choices.


What hit me hardest was that these siblings didn’t know each other’s hurts and struggles. Where they once had played together on the land they call “The Kingdom,” now they live very separate lives. It took their father’s death to reunite them and spark necessary conversations, and it stirred up many emotions.


The threat of losing their ancestral home and land is accurate and factual. These developers swoop in like vultures to try to challenge inherited land! But the Solomon children will not stand by without a fight. The ending here is intense and had me on edge.


Thank you @bookmarked for this gifted book.

Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris was written with such beauty for these incredibly flawed characters. I couldn't stop thinking about this group of siblings. The kingdom has been in their family forever and now the white man is trying is trying to take it to build on. How each sibling reacts and deals with the situation is what propels the book forward. Well done!

King had died. Will his kingdom fall?

The kingdom is an old plantation, well kept, with 200 acres. King's children come home to save the kingdom. All four of them have different motives and secrets.


Many thanks to Net Galley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I did not finish this book. It started off okay but some of the explicit parts I did not like at all.

I have a lot of mixed feelings but some of them are due to personal preferences. This was a deeply upsetting and frustrating story, something I didn’t necessarily expect (at least to this degree), but one with a lot of interesting things to say. I especially thought the discussions about generational trauma, the cycle of violence, and being Black and queer in the South were all incredibly compelling. However, I unfortunately think some topics, such as SA via coercion and binge eating were not handled with the necessary care, which left me disappointed.

This was definitely a mixed bag, in my opinion, but I do think a lot of people would still gain something from giving this a shot.

***I received an ARC from Sourcebooks and Netgalley for free and am leaving an honest review***

Long After We Are Gone is raw and emotional. It tells the story of a family's efforts to save their home despite the complicated legalities around heir property. The four siblings, Junior, Mance, Cece, and Tokey are all complicated and keeping secrets. At times, I struggled with hearing from all four of the siblings, but it ended up being worth it in the end. This was as beautiful and thoughtful as Terah's first book. I can't wait to see what topic she tackles next.

In the small town of Diggs, North Carolina, the Solomon family has lived in the Kingdom, a home on 200 acres of land, for generations. But when the patriarch, King, dies, his four children must confront their faults—and their family’s murky history—to save their home from greedy developers. King’s children are well-crafted and deep (if not always likable), and readers will surely find something to connect with in Terah Shelton Harris' sophomore novel, Long After We Are Gone.

For an intergenerational story told from four points of view and spanning 400 pages, the pacing is spot on. Introducing the cast of characters takes a little while, but after a hundred pages, this family drama is hard to put down!

Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris is a powerful and emotional journey into the heart of a family in turmoil. This novel earns a solid four stars for its compelling narrative and richly developed characters. Harris, known for her poignant storytelling in One Summer in Savannah, delivers another explosive and heartfelt story, this time focusing on the Solomon siblings as they navigate their individual battles and collective legacy.

The story begins with the death of King Solomon, whose dying wish is for his children to save their ancestral home, the Kingdom, from being sold to a development company. This quest brings Junior, Mance, CeCe, and Tokey back to their roots in North Carolina, each grappling with their own personal demons. Junior is torn between his duty as a husband and his love for another man. Mance’s uncontrollable temper has led him down a path of incarceration. CeCe, a successful lawyer, hides the dark secret of her embezzlement. Tokey, the youngest, struggles with a sense of belonging and fills her emotional void in self-destructive ways.

Harris skillfully uses alternating viewpoints to weave together the siblings' stories, creating a tapestry of family dynamics that is both intricate and relatable. The Kingdom serves as more than just a physical space; it symbolizes the legacy and burdens that each sibling carries. As they fight to save their home, they are also forced to confront the secrets and lies that have kept them apart.

The novel excels in exploring themes of familial expectations, the consequences of miscommunication, and the importance of letting go. The characters are well-drawn and multifaceted, each with their own strengths and vulnerabilities. The emotional depth of the story is enhanced by Harris's lyrical prose, which brings the setting and characters to life in vivid detail.

However, the novel’s pacing can be uneven at times, with some storylines feeling more developed than others. This occasionally disrupts the flow of the narrative. Despite this minor flaw, the book’s strengths far outweigh its weaknesses.

In conclusion, Long After We Are Gone is a searing and beautifully written exploration of family, love, and redemption. Terah Shelton Harris has crafted a novel that resonates deeply with its readers, leaving a lasting impression long after the final page is turned. This is a must-read for those who appreciate stories about the complexities of family and the enduring power of home.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, SOURCEBOOKS Landmark, and Terah Shelton Harris for an ARC of this book!**

Calling all fans of Black Cake...this one is for you!

The Kingdom has always rightfully belonged to the King....King Solomon, that is. The sprawling 200 acres of North Carolina land has been part of the family for generations, and although King's children have grown up and moved away, they all hold a piece of home close in their hearts. So when the King's four grown children, Junior, Mance, CeCe, and Tokey, are faced with the death of their beloved father, they are particularly alarmed by his last words: "Don't let the white man take the house." Although cryptic at first, the children quickly learn that the concept of 'heir property' is often exploited by developers and wealthy landowners, who use loopholes in the law to deny up to 90% of black families land and property that is rightfully theirs...and with its picture-perfect location and expansive acreage, they feel that the Kingdom would make a PERFECT resort...and have every intention of 'taking' it from the Solomon family.

Each of the siblings, however, is struggling with their own demons. Gruff and commanding Mance is fresh from his latest prison stint...but is desperate to keep his clean and keep his wife and child part of his life...and to be able to provide hearing aids for his son who has been newly diagnosed as deaf. Junior has the picture perfect life: solid job as a superintendent, lovely wife Genesis and two twin daughters to call his own...but he's living a double life, and his romantic partner Simon is tired of the secrets and lies. CeCe has landed herself in an ugly blackmail situation at her fancy law firm, and engages in certain 'acts' to keep her financial crimes a secret. Tokey, the youngest of the group, is desperate to fill every void in her life with food...especially the one left by the mother she never knew and the father she so tenderly cared for until his recent demise

With such an intricate web of problems keeping the family trapped in a constant state of uncertainty, angst, and fear, can the four Solomon siblings band together to defeat those who would take their rightful inheritance away? And when the siblings' uncle decides to AID the enemy rather than protect his family...will the Solomon siblings have what it takes to overcome the forces set to keep them apart and to hold the 'keys' to the Kingdom...for generations to come?

At the center of this story is a discussion of heir property and the devastation it has caused for black families over the years. But what is heir property? Essentially, according to farmers.gov, "Heirs' property is family-owned land that is jointly owned by descendants of a deceased person whose estate did not clear probate. The descendants, or heirs, have the right to use the property, but they do not have a clear or marketable title to the property since the estate issues remain unresolved." In this case, King's lack of a will (which many cannot afford to have) left the Kingdom in this muddy state of flux...and left his children vying to pick up the pieces. For such an impactful and LARGE loss of rightful property ownership and farmland in this country, I'm almost ashamed to say that prior to this book, I had no knowledge of it...and to that end, ALL the credit goes to Terah Shelton Harris for casting such a needed light on the subject!

This is most definitely historical fiction at its core, but it is the sort of historical fiction that I truly LOVE: it is character driven, emotional, complex, and well-plotted historical fiction that also manages to explore familial relationships, the burden of secrets, and the grey areas surrounding what is morally right and wrong. I was a bit nervous at first that this book has FOUR POVs throughout, not to mention lots of important ancillary characters (including yet more family members!) as it can be complicated to both give characters breadth and depth AND to tell a compelling story without this sort of text feeling wordy or too bogged down in detail...but Harris manages this balance with ease. Within a chapter or two of each sibling's perspective, I felt I had a solid grasp of each character and it was also easy to see how their slightly varying childhoods had led them in different directions, and how the absence of their mother Hazel in much of their lives affected each child in completely different ways.

While I wouldn't necessarily call this book unputdownable in a traditional sense, there is something about it that is both intense and riveting. I read much of it sitting out on my deck in the summer sunshine, and Harris did a magnificent job of pulling me into the throes of the North Carolina heat. She also takes the reader on a journey back through time as the book neatly weaves in and out of King and Hazel's romantic past, for one, and the choices that have led CeCe down her own damaging path of embezzlement, Mance's anger issues, Junior's painful decision to break up his family or remain in the closet, and also into the mind of Tokey and her sugary carb fueled food addiction. None of these plot points felt added for shock value or to simply give the characters something to do...and I couldn't imagine the book without any ONE of the four narrators, which points to a fully-fleshed out cohesive family unit that is both dysfunctional and works better as a group than alone. I felt myself constantly questioning loyalties, motives, and waiting with bated breath for the resolution...WHO will end up with the Kingdom? I promise you will change your mind plenty of times on the 'correct' answer...but the ending is befitting of such a dynamic tale...so as usual, no spoilers here!

And whether or not the inheritance remains with this family, by journey's end I can tell you that the siblings ALL learn that King left them something far more valuable than any stretch of land. After all...."An inheritance is what you leave with people. A legacy is what you leave in them." - Craig D. Lounsbrough

4 stars

The Solomon family prides one thing above all else, their 200 acre former plantation called The Kingdom. The North Carolina land their ancestors were once salves on may be cursed. When the patriarch, King, dies suddenly, his four children reunite. Each of them with their own secrets and intentions will they save the family legacy?
I did not enjoy “Long After We Are Gone.” The characters are so flawed, it’s difficult to root for any of them. While in the end they are redeemed, I didn’t enjoy the journey to get there. The text is a little spicy with a few sex scenes including one featuring gay men. I found the writing to be choppy and abrupt. Fans of Tia Williams may enjoy this book but I would not generally recommend it.

Yes to this book! I read it in one day flat, I was so engrossed in what each character was going through. This book speaks to the terrible injustice that has been committed over the years to Black families with respect to land ownership. It has been stripped from them by eminent domain, as well as by families not having wills and relying on heir property to safeguard their family property. This is what is taking place in this novel. Not only is it an important story, but the author makes the story of the characters in the Solomon family fascinating. Junior, hiding who he is, Ceci, who is trapped in the weight of her bad decisions, Mance, struggling to keep his anger down before it ruins his life, and Tokey, eating her feelings and struggling with addiction. The author’s note in the beginning of the novel was incredibly sensitive- I have never seen anything like it before. I very much liked this book. I enjoyed Terah Shelton Harris’ last book very much, and I was happy to continue to enjoy her writing in this novel!

King Solomon owned a large property that his ancestors were forced to work on as slaves. The book centers on his efforts to keep this property in the family.

After King dies, the family’s difficulties become more apparent, and eventually the book comes to a dramatic end. I love stories of families through the years, so this was a good fit for me. Very interesting, and I enjoyed learning about this family’s complicated life and how race entered into it.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are mine.

Firstly this book was surprising and it was written in a way that is different from my usual reads. The book tells the story offour siblings who are way different as expected and are facing different challenges in their lives and have to come together after their father passes away to save their home. While working to save their home they have to confront their demons and own their truth. It wasn't easy to get into as it is written in a way that I am bit used to but it's a solid read for fans of family sagas.

Long After We Are Gone portrays a very big issue that not many people know about. Heir propiety is a traditional way to inherit land that Black people acquired when slavery was abolished. This book explains it very well with the Salomon family, who call their land the Kingdom after their father, King Salomon. After his death, his sons and daughters Junior, Mance, Cece and Tokey reunite in their childhood home to say goodbye to their father. Not even a day after the funeral, they receive a court order for traspassing. They have an ancestral promise to never sell not even an acre or inch of land of the Kingdom, and apparently someone broke said promise.

This book is narrated by the four siblings with their own personal struggles and points of view. As with A Summer in Savannah, I expected this book to touch some sensitive themes that the author has a great way of exploring. The writing is great, it made me want to keep reading nonstop. The end is bittersweet but realistic, which I liked. Overall an amazing story very worth reading.