In the acknowledgements of her new novel, “The Wilderness,” author Angela Flournoy says, “a decade is a long time to work on a book, or no time at all, depending on whom you ask.”

Learning this in the immediate aftermath of reading the novel itself, if you ask me, it’s the exact right amount of time, at least for this writer and this book.

“The Wilderness” braids together the stories of four friends —  Desiree, Nakia, Monique and January — from 2008 to 2027 as the women move from their early 20s into middle age, a personal era that Flournoy calls “the wilderness.”

Like Flournoy’s equally compelling debut, “The Turner House,” which covers several decades as it explores a family of 13 children living in the titular home in 20th-century Detroit, “The Wilderness” is energized by its multiplicity of voices and its very specific grounding in place, in this case, both Los Angeles and Harlem.

Each chapter zeros in on an inflection point of a particular character’s life, as in the tour de force opener that has 22-year-old Desiree accompanying the grandfather who raised her and her older sister, Danielle (who also has some time in the spotlight later in the novel), to his planned assisted suicide in Switzerland.

The book moves between characters and back-and-forth through time, chapters about a particular character sowing seeds for future inflection points for another character that pay off in terms of both narrative tension and depth of engagement. A later chapter focused on January (Jay) experiencing both mental and physical post-partum complications, which has Desiree flying across the country unannounced after January sends a cryptic text message, reads like a combination of domestic horror story and buddy comedy.

The warmth that flows between these women feels natural and true on the page throughout, creating an intimacy with the reader, particularly this reader who has observed the bond of female friendships from the outside without fully understanding them.

The novel benefits from its long gestation period in two ways. For one, it allowed the author to live through this wilderness. The novel is fueled by both imagination and personal insight.

For two, the novel builds toward a climax involving scenes of an authoritarian presence in Los Angeles, where one of the characters is caught up in a dangerous military action that resonates with what’s happening on many streets in this exact moment. Given the timeline for writing, editing and publishing a novel, Flournoy must’ve written these scenes before the current occupant returned to the White House, which we could see as either an impressive work of speculation or merely the logical conclusion of the evidence at hand. Flournoy knows what threats these women face.

“The Wilderness” joins another book I recently covered, Erin Somers’ “The Ten Year Affair,” in my mind as a meaningful example of what I’ll just go ahead and call the “middle-aged millennial novel.” The books are totally different on the surface, one (“The Wilderness”) about four Black women carving out their places in an often hostile society, the other (“The Ten Year Affair”) about white people trying to live happy lives in the quasi-suburbs. But they share the same central worries that we have created a world that seems ill-suited to allowing most people to thrive.

I will not spoil the end of “The Wilderness,” but it suggests that the willingness to consider the good of others, while still noble, is also likely to be punished by the world we live in today.

This may be the most true part of a book filled with truths.

John Warner is the author of books including “More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI.” You can find him at biblioracle.com.

Book recommendations from the Biblioracle

John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.

1. “The Motorcycle Diaries” by Che Guevara
2. “Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung” by Lester Bangs
3. “My Traitor’s Heart” by Rian Malan
4. “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac
5. “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” by Tom Wolfe

— Michelle G., Kenosha, Wisconsin

Some very interesting books of the counterculture from other times. Here’s a classic from the 1970s, “The World According to Garp” by John Irving.

1. “The Winner” by Teddy Wayne
2. “Great Black Hope” by Rob Franklin
3. “Murder Takes a Vacation” by Laura Lippman
4. “The Woman in Cabin 10” by Ruth Ware
5. “Lush Life” by Richard Price

— Holly T., Des Plaines

I think Holly likes tension in her tales, so I’m recommending Scott Smith’s “A Simple Plan.”

1. “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus
2. “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig
3. “The Women” by Kristin Hannah
4. “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
5. “Spent” by Alison Bechdel

— Emily P., Downers Grove

For Emily, I’m recommending a clever recasting of the Salem Witch Trials set in the 1980s, “We Ride Upon Sticks” by Quan Berry.

Get a reading from the Biblioracle

Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/01/biblioracle-angela-flournoy-the-wilderness/