“Pomegranate feels like something new: a humane, closely-observed account of a Black woman—a recovering addict, a mother who’s lost custody of her children—emerging from prison, working to stay clean, reconnect with her family, and come to terms with her complicated past. This moving and panoramic novel starts off as a character study and evolves into a big-hearted story of redemption.”

—Tom Perrotta, New York Times bestselling author of Tracy Flick Can’t Win and Mrs. Fletcher

“Helen Elaine Lee is working at the height of her powers. With empathy, insight, and hope, Pomegranate reveals the hidden heartbreak of the women touched by incarceration. Prepare to be challenged and changed.”

—Tayari Jones, acclaimed author of An American Marriage

“Pomegranate is a fierce and extraordinarily moving epic about coming home. Helen Lee has blessed us with the great American novel about people America tosses away. Her searing words lift up the lives of women—daughters, mothers, and lovers—you think you know, but you have no idea. The achievement of a lifetime from a brilliant storyteller, this soulful novel is a balm, a truth telling, and a damn good read. Somewhere Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Audre Lorde are slurping fat juicy pomegranates and they are rejoicing.”

—Paul Butler, MSNBC Legal Analyst, author of Chokehold

“Helen Elaine Lee is a writer of great humanity, wisdom, delicacy and heart. Pomegranate is a moving portrait of a woman living with her mistakes and determined to do better. Ranita’s journey out of addiction and incarceration and early trauma, her daily struggle to live a life as large as her spirit, is a remarkable feat of literary conjuration. This is what novels are for.”

—Jennifer Haigh, nationally bestselling author of Mercy Street

“Both lush and probing, this book is evidence, yet again, of Lee’s stunning gift to hold history and beauty in her hands simultaneously.”

—Robin Coste Lewis, National Book Award-winning author of Voyage of the Sable Venus