On the Rooftop

A Novel

By: Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Narrated by: Robin Miles

A Reese’s Book Club Pick

“An utterly original and brilliant story.” –Reese Witherspoon

A stunning novel about a mother whose dream of musical stardom for her three daughters collides with the daughters’ ambitions for their own lives—set against the backdrop of gentrifying 1950s San Francisco

At home they are just sisters, but on stage, they are The Salvations. Ruth, Esther, and Chloe have been singing and dancing in harmony since they could speak. Thanks to the rigorous direction of their mother, Vivian, they’ve become a bona fide girl group whose shows are the talk of the Jazz-era Fillmore.

Now Vivian has scored a once-in-a-lifetime offer from a talent manager, who promises to catapult The Salvations into the national spotlight. Vivian knows this is the big break she’s been praying for. But sometime between the hours of rehearsal on their rooftop and the weekly gigs at the Champagne Supper Club, the girls have become women, women with dreams that their mother cannot imagine.

The neighborhood is changing, too: all around the Fillmore, white men in suits are approaching Black property owners with offers. One sister finds herself called to fight back, one falls into the comfort of an old relationship, another yearns to make her own voice heard. And Vivian, who has always maintained control, will have to confront the parts of her life that threaten to splinter: the community, The Salvations, and even her family.

Warm, gripping, and wise, with echoes of Fiddler on the Roof, Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s latest novel is a moving family portrait from “a writer of uncommon nerve and talent” (New York Times Book Review).

Just brilliant

From the first chapter of this brilliantly-written story I was immediately invested and rooting for Vivian and her daughters even when they were at odds with each other or battling against the infuriating inevitability of gentrification. Sexton-Wilkerson humanizes the displacement of the black community in the Fillmore district of San Francisco with a narrative that will stay with you. Bravo Margaret.

Beautiful Story

This was an incredible story of family, sacrifice a mother (especially a single mother) takes on and bring that to a boil with hardships of racism. It was beautifully told with a wonderful narrator.

Excellent read!

I thought the characters were well developed. it was relatable and I was ready to continue listening until the end. I would love to read more from this author

Marvelous story

This made me feel like I haven’t heard just a REALLY GOOD story in a long time! I think that’s a real gift, and look forward to more.

Historically interesting but one dimensional

This is an interesting account of a New Orleans family moving out west for a better life, and that kept me reading until the end (which wrapped up in a clunky, rushed). The biggest accuracy issue is that retail crawfish was not available in New Orleans until the 1950s, so it was likely not sold in California either. Insert shrimp, and it’s far more historically accurate.