Atlanta Arts category interest

In the afterword of What You Leave Behind, author Wanda M. Morris shares the inspiration for writing her novel: She caught an interview on the evening news about a woman who was unable to repair her family’s property after Hurricane Florence. The woman said she was “turned away” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) because it was “heirs property,” a term meaning the estate hadn’t been settled, and the property had no legal owner.

As a Black author, Morris felt moved to shed light on “yet another system that perpetuates a cycle of haves and have-nots” — communities of color, lacking funds and resources, most often suffer from heirs property laws. And while the resulting novel does, indeed, shed light, the light washes out the animating ideas, leaving readers with a formulaic thriller of flat characters and shallow emotion.

In chapter one, we meet our narrator, who has had a rough couple of years following her mother’s death and a recent divorce. In the wake of personal tragedy, Deena Wood flees the city of Atlanta to stay with her father and his new wife, Ruth, in her hometown of Brunswick, Georgia, and she regularly drives to the coast to meditate on what’s next for her life. One evening, she accidentally makes enemies with a local man who lives in a run-down trailer near the shore. In a hard-to-believe moment, he runs Deena off with a gun but also reveals his full name when she asks for it. Thus begins Deena’s obsession with Holcomb Gardner and, soon enough, with the rest of his family and their property.

Perhaps if this book weren’t a thriller, it would more successfully give readers a useful, memorable perspective about heirs property and how it affects Black and brown communities. However, the breezy, beach-read prose had me chewing on the ideas less and flipping pages more. Yes, I found myself powering through daily tasks to settle back on my sofa and read about what happened to Holcomb and his sister after their homes were seized — but the plot is reminiscent of a lightweight TV show; it holds one’s interest well enough to binge but is not an emotional heavy-hitter.

To be sure, Morris does set up opportunities for readers to emotionally connect with the characters. We have a narrator who is grieving a marriage and a mother; we have a stepmother doing everything in her power to bond with her stepdaughter; we have a blossoming romance; we have unlikely new friendships. But despite first-person narration revealing Deena’s innermost dialogue, she somehow doesn’t pull a single heartstring or elicit a thoughtful hmm! in almost 400 pages.

Still, credit is due to the author for writing an entertaining story. Readers may learn a lot from What You Leave Behind about Brunswick, the historic neighborhoods and the nuances of family property. However, this book would benefit from a simpler, deeper plot. The myriad soapy storylines take away from, rather than add to, Morris’ intended takeaway: that property laws in Georgia can be hurtful for many of our neighbors.

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Denise K. James is an ArtsATL senior editor.