“Regina, what you think it would feel like to be free?”

“What you mean, free?”

“I mean, to be able to live your life just the way you want to, to be just who you are. To not have to do what anybody say you ought to do, not white folks, or the bible, maybe not even God. What you think that would be like?”

The Summer We Got Free is the debut novel of Mia McKenzie, Black queer writer, activist and creator of the blog Black Girl Dangerous. This absorbing novel just won the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Debut Fiction and has been highly praised by Crunk Feminist Collective’s Moya Bailey, and award-winning lesbian author of The Gilda Stories and Don’t Explain, Jewelle Gomez.

The Summer We Got Free centers on the (dis)connection of the Delaneys, a family united by their exclusion from the tight-knit community in which they live. This seventeen-year ostracism is led by the pastor of the church where they were once prominent members, and came to a head when a fatal incident involving the Delaneys shook their community.

The story’s protagonist, Ava Delaney, has been living in a state of numbness for longer than she can remember. As a child, she was a free-spirited source of light and truth that people both feared and were inexplicably drawn to. Now, she passes her days in an unremarkable existence, living with her mother, father, sister and husband in her childhood home. When an unexpected guest shows up, she awakens the dormant soul of who Ava used to be, and along with it, unearths long-buried secrets, truths and desires held by every member of the Delaney clan.

Helena, the guest, almost reads as surreal. In everything from her physical description: “Black as forever […] Black as always,” she is the containment of all, of “every color,” and every truth, question and answer that the Delaneys find themselves coming to terms with during her visit. With “startlingly green” eyes that search the soul of those who dare to look into them, her presence is almost God-like. She shakes up their entire existence, forcing them to question their long-held beliefs and identities.

McKenzie’s novel seamlessly blends genres, weaving a tale that is all at once a queer love story, historical fiction, metaphysical speculative fiction and social commentary. Throughout the story, McKenzie tackles various topics that reveal her social consciousness – the Great Migration, the psycho-emotional effects of the prison industrial system and groupthink – all issues that have a significant impact on each member of the family, and on their neighborhood as a whole.

The method of storytelling is intricate yet simple. McKenzie pulls you in, and holds you there, breath bated to the very end. She creates vivid imagery using everyday, ordinary language that makes it easy for the reader to connect. The language is authentic and timeless; the way she constructs the characters makes you feel like you know them. They are your family, friends and church members. She gives as much life to the “supporting” character: the Delaney home. Much of the story takes place there, and the way she describes each room, and the energy in it, you can all but reach out and touch it.

The queerity in this novel is neither subtle nor overbearing. Like the LGBTQ community, it is simply one truth, a layer like the Blackness, the spirituality, the pain, the healing. It is beautifully weaved within this tale of love, art and awakened consciousness. McKenzie has used our stories to write one to which everyone can connect.

The Summer We Got Free is beautiful, soul-stirring and redemptive. I found myself thinking about the characters when I was away from the book, always wanting to know what was going to happen next, what tucked away secrets would burst from just below the surface. As I neared the end, I found myself reading more slowly, letting the words and images sink in and sit with me, lest it end too soon. When I did finish, I felt peace. I felt seen.

This novel does not read like a “first.” It is evident that McKenzie took her time in crafting this experience, and the careful intent and passion put into it shows in every word.

Purchase The Summer We Got Free on Amazon.

- Nitra Wisdom

Nitra Wisdom is a freelance copy editor and proofreader who is working on her first collection of short stories and personal essays. The self-described queer introverted bibliophile received her B.A. in Pan African Studies from the University of Louisville and currently lives in Atlanta, GA where she blogs about love, literature, being a wounded healer and the Divinity of Femininity at wiseedits.wordpress.com.