Dominion

"Dominion is unsettling and ambitious, a debut of striking authority. It offers no answers, only the clear recognition of how power corrodes those bound to it – and that is precisely why it matters."

The Spectator

"In its exploration of female competition and resourcefulness, Dominion may remind readers of Zora Neale Hurston."

The New York Times

"This stellar, utterly assured debut . . . simply crackles . . . [Citchens is] a bright new voice."

LitHub

"An incandescent debut that exalts the beauty and strength of black womanhood whilst also illuminating the sins of the patriarchy and the bargains that women strike to survive them. It's irreverent and anti-institutional, brilliant and bold and very brave."

Inklings Book Club with Jack Edwards

"A stellar Southern drama of secrets and sin . . . This Faulknerian, God-troubled novel is an earthly scorcher shot through with unforgettable images . . . Readers will be stunned."

Publishers Weekly

"Soaring . . . A stunning debut."

Kirkus Reviews

" Dominion emerges as an assured debut. It restores faith in the power of language — and in the act of owning one's story — suggesting that we are not defined solely by what has happened to us, but by what we choose to carry forward."

The Hindu

"Looka here, Dominion is the Black-ass book we needed."

Steven Dunn, author of Potted Meat

"A wise, sophisticated, and impressively crafted novel of secrets, longing, and strength."

Angela Flournoy, author of The Wilderness

"Mississippi is a mystifying language. In Dominion, Addie E. Citchens speaks it with a dazzling tongue. The book is at once ancestral and newborn, drunk with sugary grits beauty and sobering with a Black woman's truth. Citchens shows us that, in a world roamed by two-legged beasts whose robes are stitched with the blood and ruin of willful women, getting happy and getting free are vast contradictions."

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

"This is the rarest and finest kind of storytelling, where both the tradition and innovation get plucked by the most audacious artistry I've experienced in a long, long time. You read this and see there's literally nothing narratively Addie E. Citchens can't do with her skill, her will. We have never in our reading lives experienced such an imagination, a gumption, a breathing Mississippi, and a craftsperson this locked in at this stage of her career. My god, we are lucky."

Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

"It's rare that a debut author produces a work of such tenderness and ferocity, but that's what Addie E. Citchens has done in her unforgettable Dominion. Rich with metaphor and thrumming power, it tells a vivid and unforgettable story of two Mississippi Black women. If Citchens didn't exist, the South would invent her. But she does exist and our common literary soil is enriched because of it."

Maurice Carlos Ruffin, author of The American Daughters

"In Dominion, Addie E. Citchens teaches us how ceremony works. She shows us how much it matters whose voices take center stage, which questions we ask, and whose stories we avoid. And the costs of not listening to our own voices and the prophetic wisdom of Black women and girls. Somehow Citchens worked a horror and healing into the same tightly woven work of brilliance. I laughed and cried with and even prayed over these characters. I could not stop turning the pages. And the ceremony worked. Nothing is the same now. Addie E. Citchens is a world-changing writer."

Alexis Pauline Gumbs, author of Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde

"I loved this brilliant novel. Dominion is a must-read. Addie E. Citchens tackles misogyny with urgency, humor, authenticity, and unflinching honesty. Citchens has crafted an unforgettable work of art that exalts the beauty and strength of Black womanhood against the backdrop of the patriarchy. Thought-provoking and entertaining, this incandescent novel will stay with readers."

Annell López, author of I’ll Give You a Reason