The Known World is a wonderful historical novel, one you will think about for awhile afterwards. There are as many personal perspectives in this book as there are people--it's a detailed, rich story. Jones was able to go so deep into each character that it felt as though the characters themselves were telling the story. This novel is authentic and moving.

The novel's subject is slavery in antebellum Manchester County, VA, with an emphasis on a group of slave-owners who were, themselves, black. It sheds light on the relationships and hyprocracies that people accepted in order to maintain a fragile and awkward social and economic system.