The Seven Daughters of Dupree

'A masterful debut…immersive as it is unforgettable' Lizzie Damilola Blackburn

From the two-time Emmy Award–winning producer and host of the Black and Published podcast comes a sweeping multi-generational epic following seven generations of Dupree women as they navigate love, loss, and the unyielding ties of family in the tradition of Homegoing and The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois.

'[A]s immersive as it is unforgettable' LIZZIE DAMILOLA BLACKBURN, Yinka Where is Your Huzband

'These women’s stories are tender, fierce, and unforgettable' JACQUELINE CROOKS, Fire Rush

‘An unsentimental exploration of African American family life and a celebration of female resilience and love’ LISA SMITH, Jamaica Road

'Transcendent' ELIZABETH GILBERT, City of Girls

Fourteen-year-old Tati is determined to uncover the identity of her father. But her mother, Nadia, keeps her secrets close, while her grandmother, Gladys, remains silent about the family’s past.

As Tati digs deeper, she uncovers the truth of her lineage, still whispered at kitchen tables and murmured in basements, where the ritual of braiding or pressing hair takes place every Saturday night.

From Jubi in 1917, whose attempt to pass for white ends when she gives birth to Ruby; to Ruby’s fiery lust for Sampson in 1934 that leads to a baby of her own; to the night in 1980 that changed Nadia’s future for ever, the Dupree women confront a legacy of pain, resilience and survival that began with an enslaved ancestor who risked everything for freedom.

Seven generations of women

A shared legacy passed down from mother to daughter

The secrets kept hidden between them