Sing, Unburied, Sing is author Jesmyn Ward’s third novel, and her second (following 2011’s Salvage the Bones) to win the National Book Award for Fiction. Published in 2017, Sing, Unburied, Sing touches on many of the same issues Ward’s other novels do, including the racial and class divisions of the contemporary American South; the novel takes place against the backdrop of events like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as well as societal trends like the mass incarceration of black Americans. Unlike Ward’s earlier works, however, Sing, Unburied, Sing isn’t strictly realist in approach but instead blends elements of both a family saga and a ghost story.

Plot Summary

In the fictional southern Mississippi town of Bois Sauvage, a biracial boy named Jojo celebrates his 13th birthday. The day is subdued: Jojo’s grandmother (Mam) is dying of cancer, and his mother (Leonie) is addicted to drugs. As the family gathers for cake, Leonie learns her boyfriend Michael—Jojo’s father—is being released from Parchman after three years’ imprisonment; Jojo’s grandfather (Pop) also served time in Parchman as a teenager and has told Jojo stories about his friendship with a 12-year-old inmate named Richie. After the birthday celebrations are over, Leonie goes to her friend Misty’s house to snort cocaine. While high, she sees the ghost of her dead brother Given, who was killed as a teenager by Michael’s cousin in a racially-motivated murder.

Leonie, Jojo, and Jojo’s toddler sister Kayla drive north to Parchman; Misty, whose boyfriend is an inmate there, also joins them. On their way, they stop to pick up a bag of meth from a friend of Misty’s, and then to tend to Kayla, who has developed a fever and is throwing up. They stay the night with Michael’s lawyer, where Leonie attempts to make an herbal remedy for Kayla before disappearing to get high with Misty and the lawyer, Al. At Parchman the following day, Leonie and Michael share a passionate reunion. Meanwhile, Kayla draws Jojo’s attention to a flock of “birds” in the prison fields, and Jojo has a brief vision of men picking cotton. Then, when the family returns to the car, Richie’s spirit appears outside Jojo’s door: He has been trapped at Parchman since his death and hopes that by learning what happened to him from Pop, he will finally be able to move on to the afterlife.

The group heads back to Bois Sauvage carrying a bag of meth, which Leonie is forced to swallow whole when they’re pulled over by the police. After a tense encounter during which the policeman draws his gun on Jojo, they continue on their way, Michael using charcoal to make Leonie throw up the drugs. Back in Bois Sauvage, Michael proposes dropping the children off at his parents’ home. Leonie reluctantly agrees, but the situation quickly devolves into violence; Michael’s racist father (Big Joseph) insults Leonie and the children, and he and his son begin fighting. The family therefore returns to Leonie’s parents’ home, where Pop tells his daughter that Mam’s death is imminent. Leonie goes to speak to her mother, who begs her to help summon the spirit that will take her to the next life.

Meanwhile, Richie presses Jojo to ask Pop to finish telling Richie’s story. Jojo eventually agrees and learns that Richie ran away from Parchman with a convict named Blue. When Blue attacked a white girl, a lynch mob formed, and Pop—knowing the mob wouldn’t spare Richie—tracked the boy down first and killed him. Devastated, Richie goes to Mam’s room and tries to claim her for his own mother. Given is also there, and the two spirits fight over Mam as Leonie prays to Maman Brigitte. Given emerges victorious, and his spirit disappears as Mam draws her final breath. Jojo, who has witnessed the entire scene, lashes out at Leonie and blames her for Mam’s death. Hurt and grieving, Leonie finds Michael and asks him to take her north to Al’s. As the novel ends, Michael and Leonie are less present in their children’s lives than ever. One day, Jojo comes across Richie while out walking, and Richie shows him a tree full of ghosts who, like him, remain trapped between life and the afterlife. Kayla, who can see the ghosts as well, begins singing, and the spirits seem to take comfort in her words.