The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Atakora, Afia. Conjure Women. 4th Estate-HarperCollins, 2021.

In Conjure Women, Afia Atakora shifts between the antebellum and Reconstruction eras on a Southern plantation, exploring the troubled relationships and dark secrets of its inhabitants as the world changes around them. The novel has five parts, containing unnumbered chapters. Instead of having individual titles, each chapter takes one of the following headings identifying when the action takes place: “Freedomtime,” “Slaverytime,” “Surrender,” “The Ravaging,” “Wartime,” “Promise,” or “Exodus.” Part Five includes two unique headings: “In the Beginning…” and “Gilead.” In some cases, a date follows the heading.

In Part One, the community was uneasy because of Bean, the baby son of Sarah and Jonah. His unusual appearance and the sound of his crying were disturbing. Rue was the healer and midwife, but before the war it was her mother, Miss May Belle, who also dealt in hoodoo curses and charms. The former slaves believed that May Belle had cursed the plantation before she died, binding all of them to the land and keeping outsiders away. They believed that their old master and his daughter – Marse Charles and Varina – still occupied the surrounding woods as haints (ghosts). When Rue was a child, she and Varina used to play together, and May Belle punished her because they were too friendly. As an adult, Rue was angry about the visits of Bruh Abel, a popular preacher. Rue regularly visited the abandoned church on the outskirts of the plantation. An old man, Joel, accused her of consorting with haints and the devil. He claimed that Bean was a product of her evil witchcraft. As babies started falling sick, other members of the community started to distrust Rue. She was exasperated because Bruh Abel prioritized the spiritual salvation of the babies over their physical health.

In Part Two, we learn that Rue and the teacher, Ma Doe, had been sending letters in Varina’s name, convincing relatives that she was alive and in charge of the plantation. They kept this up to prevent white strangers investigating and reclaiming the land. Bruh Abel baptized Rue (against her will) along with Bean in the river. When Rue was a child, May Belle made a hoodoo doll – part Rue, part Varina – intended to prevent Varina from leaving.

In Part Three, we learn that Varina was still alive. Rue kept her hidden in the rectory adjoining the church, telling her that the war was ongoing and that she was in danger. Rue poisoned Bean, worried that the townspeople would turn against him if he remained healthy while the other children suffered, but this strategy was too effective and he died. When they were teenagers, Varina forced Rue to hide during a party, so that Rue would not miss the entertainment. From her hiding place, she witnessed Varina’s suitor raping her. At a wake for the town’s dead children, Rue discovered Bean alive in his coffin. Rue and Bruh Abel became lovers.

Part Four describes the town’s prosperity, with an influx of newcomers. Bruh Abel’s preaching was a sensational attraction, while Bean – having risen from the dead – was a famous curiosity. Varina befriended Bean when he discovered her hiding place. Rue and Sarah became pregnant. During the war, Marse Charles had offered them both to Varina’s intended husband, who had impregnated her, but the marriage never happened. Rue’s baby came early, and did not survive.

In Part Five, May Belle describes the barbaric behavior of Marse Charles during the war, to herself and to Jonah. She refused to help Varina, who wanted an abortion, so Varina used lye soap to force a miscarriage, and almost killed herself in the process. Before leaving for war, Marse Charles and his friends hanged Rue’s father, because Varina let them infer that he was the man who had raped her. When victorious Union soldiers arrived at the plantation, Rue persuaded the fragile Varina to go into hiding, then announced her death. The soldiers burned down the House. Varina left the plantation with Bean, after Rue finally told her the truth. Led by Bruh Abel, most of the townspeople departed too because of the growing threat posed by racist vigilantes (implicitly Ku Klux Klan) in the area. Rue stayed behind, and delivered Sarah’s baby while the white men destroyed the town. The novel concludes in a twentieth-century hospital, where a doctor who resembles Bean presents himself to the elderly Rue.