Dominion by Addie E Citchens review Addie E Citchens’s novel ‘Dominion’ is set in the fictional town of Dominion, Mississippi, focusing on the prominent Winfrey family, whose public image of grandeur hides a deep decay fueled by male entitlement. The story unfolds through the perspectives of Priscilla Winfrey, the matriarch, and Diamond, the girlfriend of their youngest son, Emanuel (Wonderboy), revealing the destructive consequences of his violent nature and the enabling roles of those around him. The novel critiques religious hypocrisy and the societal normalization of male violence, ultimately exploring themes of inheritance and the warped lives of women under male whims.

• The novel ‘Dominion’ by Addie E Citchens is set in the fictional town of Dominion, Mississippi, at the turn of the millennium.
• It centers on the Winfrey family, a prominent Black church family, and their youngest son, Emanuel, nicknamed Wonderboy, who is both gifted and terrifying.
• The narrative explores themes of male entitlement, religious hypocrisy, and inherited patterns of masculinity and female submission.
• The story unfolds through the alternating perspectives of Priscilla Winfrey and Diamond, Wonderboy’s teenage girlfriend.
• Wonderboy’s transgressive behavior and violent outbursts are central to the plot, highlighting the normalization of male damage.
• The novel is noted for its humor, sharp prose, and vivid rendering of life in semi-rural Mississippi.
• Priscilla Winfrey serves as the emotional core, representing female endurance and martyrdom.
• Sabre Winfrey, the patriarch, embodies hypocrisy, using religion to excuse his son’s predatory behavior.
• The novel concludes by focusing on inheritance: scripts of masculinity, female submission, and generational grief.
• Despite its macabre subject matter, the novel is described as gloriously funny with crackling prose and southern-black humor.