One Blood

A Novel

By: Denene Millner

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Tina Lifford

Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Long-listed, Library Journal Best Books of the Year, 2023

This program features multicast narration. It also includes a poem, book club reading guide, and acknowledgments, all read by the author.

Homegoing meets The Mothers where three women are tied together by blood, love, and family secrets in this searing novel by New York Times bestseller Denene Millner.

Raised by her beloved grandmother in tension-filled, post-segregation Virginia, Grace is barely a teenager when she loses her Maw Maw. Shellshocked, she is shipped up North to live with her formidably ambitious Aunt Hattie—a woman who firmly left behind her “undesirable” Southern roots in pursuit of upward mobility. Thrust into the world of the Black and socially ambitious, Grace finds herself trapped in a society of stifling respectability, fancy teas, and coveted debutante balls. Feeling like a fish out of water, Grace’s only place of sweet comfort is with the smart, handsome son of one of the society’s grand dames. However, when Dale gets caught up in a racial police killing and Grace ends up pregnant, she is quickly hidden away and he is promptly shipped off to college. Then in the ultimate act of betrayal, Grace is deceived by Hattie, and her brand new baby girl is given up for adoption.

Beautiful, intelligent and fierce, Delores a.k.a. Lolo has never had it easy. Her life has been riddled with pain and loss. Once she makes it up north, she puts aside her dream of being a model to do what she has to do to survive as a woman with little money and no mooring: get married and have a family of her own. And she will tell lies and keep secrets to obtain it. Then Lolo does have it all: a doting husband, a beautiful son and daughter, and a lovely home. When secrets start to spill out and she and her family slowly begin to unravel, Lolo is willing to do whatever it takes to keep her dream intact and those she loves together.

When Lolo’s headstrong daughter, Rae discovers that she is adopted, it is just one secret among others that her family is keeping. Not out of a desire to deceive, but out of a determination to survive and protect. When Rae finds out that she is about to become a mother herself, she knows that there is an important reckoning that must be faced about herself and her two mothers.

Potent, poetic, powerful, told with deep love, and spanning from the Great Migration to the civil unrest of the 1960s to the quest for women’s equality in early 2000s, Denene Millner’s beautifully wrought novel explores three women’s intimate struggle with generational trauma and healing.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Forge Books.

©2023 Denene Millner (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Great read!

I enjoyed this book and was pulled in immediately! Definitely will be looking for more work by this author

Beautiful writing

Love the character development great storytelling, fascinating and intriguing truly thoroughly enjoyed the journey, revelation, and a powerful ending.

I love this book.. A masterpiece.

The entire story was beautiful. The readers voices marched each character to a T. I saw so much of my families story in this book and could relate to every woman. I love the book. I love this story.

The story line and multigenerational approach was flawless

Beautiful, historical, validating story that so many women of color can relate to. It is a clear picture of cause & effect and an effortless reminder of self preservation & the purpose of healing.

Captivating read

I enjoyed listening to this. Like others have said the first narrator was not my favorite but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the read. My favorite story line was Lolo. Her character was gripping and even though she wasn’t perfect she loved hard. I wasn’t sure what to make of Rae’s story line. For all that her birth mother and her mother had to endure I was expecting an equally turbulent plot. For me her story line was not as compelling- don’t get me wrong- the book was enjoyable but pound for pound Rae’s story kept leaving me wondering okay where are we going with this.

A mini epic

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I listened every available waking hour. The story is so well layered and interconnected that I'm still digesting it all and parts will remain on my subconscious for a while.

Great Read/Listen

Loved the book overall, however, I did not like the way Mawmaw's character was read.

Awesome, talented writer

The author is extremely talented. The storyline and characters kept me interested despite the terrible performance by the first reader. I am glad that I persevered through the first several chapters of stumbling performance to the rest of the book which was well worth it. I look forward to a sequel.

An Amazing Story

The author Denene Milner told a very compelling story, that grabbed my attention from start to finish, thank you for bringing up topics, like adoption, and infidelity. I would highly recommend this book.

Incredible storyteller!

This started a little slow for me, but after the first chapters I was loving it! Once I got into it, I felt all the feelings - joy, fear, heartache, etc. I got to know Grace, Lolo, and Rae intimately, and I'm a better person because of it. The first narrator was sometimes great, but sometimes distracting and odd. The second and third narrators were flawless in my opinion.