“I sing the praises of what Victoria Bond has imagined and crafted here,

both in deference to my aunt and as a way of honoring Zora’s legacy.”

—Lucy Hurston, niece of Zora Neale Hurston

In the finale to the acclaimed trilogy, upheaval in Zora Neale Hurston’s family and
hometown persuade her to leave childhood behind and find her destiny beyond Eatonville.

the summoner
Victoria Bond
For Carrie and her best friend, Zora, Eatonville—America’s
first incorporated Black township—has been an idyllic
place to live out their childhoods. But when a lynch mob
crosses the town’s border to pursue a fugitive and a grave
robbery resuscitates the ugly sins of the past, the safe
ground beneath them seems to shift. Not only has Zora’s
own father—the showboating preacher John Hurston—
decided to run against the town’s trusted mayor, but there
are other unsettling things afoot, including a heartbreaking
family loss, a friend’s sudden illness, and the suggestion
of voodoo and zombiism in the air, which a curious and
grieving Zora becomes all too willing to entertain.
In this fictionalized tale, award-winning author Victoria
Bond explores the end of childhood and the bittersweet On sale October 13, 2020
goodbye to Eatonville by preeminent author Zora Neale Simultaneous hardcover and paperback release
Hurston (1891–1960). In so doing, she brings to a HC: 978-0-7636-4299-0 • $17.99 ($23.99 CAN)
PB: 978-1-5362-1667-7 • $7.99 ($10.99 CAN)
satisfying conclusion the story begun in the award-winning Also available as an e-book and in audio
Zora and Me and its sequel, Zora and Me: The Cursed Ground, Ages 10–14 • 256 pages
inviting inquisitive readers to explore Hurston’s own
seminal work.

Victoria Bond is the coauthor, with T. R. Simon, of the John

Steptoe New Talent Author Award winner Zora and Me. She holds
an MFA in creative writing and is a lecturer at John Jay College of
Criminal Justice, City University of New York. Victoria Bond lives in
New Jersey with her family.
 Read the First Two Books in the Trilogy
by Victoria Bond and T. R. Simon
HC: 978-0-7636-4300-3 • $16.99 ($20.00 CAN)
PB: 978-0-7636-5814-4 • $7.99 ($10.99 CAN)
A John Steptoe New Talent Author Award Winner
A Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Book
“One of the greatest novelists of our time plays a key role in one
of the best children’s books of the year.” —Essence Magazine
H “The brilliance of this novel is its rendering of African-
American child life during the Jim Crow era as a time of wonder
and imagination, while also attending to its harsh realities.
Absolutely outstanding.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
H “Like Hurston, who celebrated her rich roots but was also a
wanderer at heart, this novel of lies and revelations will reach
a wide audience, and some strong readers will want to follow
up with Hurston’s writings.” —Booklist (starred review)
“The authors’ language catches the time and place, which is
seen in the description of an older recluse as ‘not the friendliest
squirrel in the nest’ or a group of menfolk outside the general
store who ‘talked loud as usual, whooping and hollering in a
major key.’ The story is insightful about the emotional needs
of characters young and old.” —Chicago Tribune
by T. R. Simon
HC: 978-0-7636-4301-0 • $16.99 ($22.99 CAN)
PB: 978-1-5362-0888-7 • $7.99 ($10.99 CAN)
H “An extraordinary, richly imagined coming-of-age story about
a young Zora Neale Hurston, the long, cruel reach of slavery,
and the power of community.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
H “Simon keeps the plot moving briskly and sustains suspense even
as she folds in truly profound, timely, and important themes.”
—The Horn Book (starred review)
H “T. R. Simon’s writing does elegant justice to the grown-up
Hurston’s genius as a writer as well as to the character she apparently
was as a child.” —Shelf Awareness for Readers (starred review)
H “The story of a city separated by forty-eight years and a war—
1903 Eatonville and 1855 Westin, as Eatonville was formerly
known—is told in alternating chapters. Simon offers keen insight
into how the past affects the present, no matter how many years
between them.” —School Library Journal (starred review)
“T. R. Simon offers a fascinating exploration of the idea of
collective memory and the long shadows cast by the evils of slavery
in this second, marvelous, fictionalized account of the childhood
adventures of writer Zora Neale Hurston.” —Buffalo News