Our Sister's Keeper

by Jill Bergman · 2005

Set in the all‑Black free town of East Cobb, Mississippi in 1927, *Our Sister's Keeper* follows ambitious newlyweds Thea Elliot and her husband as they chase their dreams in a seemingly utopian community. The town, however, hides a terrifying secret: ghoulish, walking nightmares that only women can see. Marah, one of the "carriers," can pull traumatic memories from men, bearing the weight of centuries of Black trauma, lynchings, and violence. When an unexpected death forces Marah to confront her powers, her path collides with Thea's, leading the sisters to uncover the rotten core of East Cobb’s prosperity and decide who will survive the reckoning. The novel blends historical fiction with Southern gothic psychological horror, exploring Black sisterhood, rage, resistance, and the cost of a society built on suppressed pain.