Our Sister's Keeper Book Review

by Catalina Bonati

2.75/5 stars ★★★☆☆

Our Sister’s Keeper by Jasmine Holmes (to be published June 9, 2026) is the story of Thea, who moves with her husband Kid to the prosperous all-Black town of East Cobb, Mississippi, where hauntings, called “groanings” pursue only the women of the burg. Similarly, Marah works as one of the town’s “carriers,” which is a woman who has been denoted to experience men’s burdens and to take them on as her own, relieving the men of traumas. Thus, East Cobb is a haven for Black men yet a whirlwind of oppression for women, all while thriving under the lack of white governance.

This novel presents a flurry of ideas in terms of worldbuilding, such as the existence of Black Wall Streets throughout the country, being tied to a place through medication, and experiencing other people’s trauma. However, these ideas are merely presented and then left undeveloped throughout the story. The idea of Black Wall Street is only ever mentioned never to be explored again, and the idea that East Cobb is an exact sister replica of West Cobb and that its buildings are inherently connected (why? How?) is introduced very late in the story and never elaborated. The character of Clotilde is a centerpiece in the narrative and she holds powers way beyond that of the main characters; however, it is never explained how or why she is holding the town together and why even the weather is so connected to her, which is so far removed from what their powers actually are.  She is an interesting character who falls short of her potential to really shine by there not being any explanations or development to what her nature really is, which would in turn help to enrich the worldbuilding and the narration of several other situations.

This book is largely about sisterhood, power imbalances, subjugation, solidarity, and about the adult female experience. The main strength of this story lies in its exploration of womanhood and its associated social pressures. In East Cobb, women are “protected” by being housewives, not working and tending to their unburdened and de-traumatized husbands: “our current reality is that the only way for a woman to be safe and secure is for men to be as powerful as possible” (chapter 38). The carrier’s role is to take on as many burdens of the men of the town as possible so that the men can prosper in their work, the town can financially boom, and women can be protected from the white world and from the dangers of violent repressed husbands. The women of East Cobb do not feel oppressed, they feel free; however, the also feel free to bully and condescend to the women who do feel oppressed. The solidarity presented in this book is only found between the carriers themselves; as social outcasts who are considered to be the bottom of the social ladder, their only comfort is in being each other’s friend and rising up. There is the ongoing idea that being cared for automatically alleviates Black women’s burdens, which is an idea that the characters here should question, but is actually never explored. There is also the idea the women, unless they are subjugated, are unable to carry Black men’s burdens as if their privilege can only incapacitate them and rob them of sisterhood. In this story, women are wronged (specifically the carriers), and feel anger and outrage, which in turn is empowering for them to change their lives. This idea is not very nuanced, yet the book takes nearly the whole plot to build up to this. “A sisterhood forged in pain and empowered through anger” (chapter 42) is the main focus of this story which relates directly to empowerment in reality, yet in this story the sisterhood that is forged is exclusionary and extended only to the girls who think alike, which does not even include all carriers.

The worldbuilding in this story is interesting but is overall lacking development, as has been mentioned. The novel would have been enriched and made more meaningful by elaborating on the presented ideas and also lingering more on why Black men are so eager to dominate the power imbalance against Black women in this town despite there being no white influence. All in all, this book is a curious read that rests a bit much surface meaning without exploring any deeper significance, leading at times towards the cliché.