{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/1668078406?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"1668078406","authors":["Diamond Forde"],"book_id":"9781668078402","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/the-book-of-alice-9781668078402","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781668078402.jpg?v=558cee7511666bb8","description":"WINNER OF THE 2025 JAMES LAUGHLIN AWARD FROM THE ACADEMY OF AMERICAN POETS A stunning new collection exploring lineage and the legacy of survival as seen through the life of the poet’s grandmother Alice—a Black woman born in the Jim Crow South—using the King James Bible as a narrative framework. “Alice / a god-song, swings still in the high / branch of our throats. I miss her, wonder / what she plants in heaven’s mulch.” When her grandmother died, poet Diamond Forde inherited a well-worn family Bible to remember her by. In The Book of Alice , she retells the story of her grandmother’s life through the framework of the only poetry Alice knew: the King James Bible. A Black woman born in the Jim Crow South, Alice joined the tide of the Great Migration when she made her exodus to New York City. She married, divorced, and raised eight children, all while struggling to define herself in an America that looks frighteningly like our own. Using found forms like recipes, a family tree, and a US Census Report alongside imagined psalms and scriptures, Diamond draws bold parallels between biblical narratives and the lived experiences of those often relegated to the margins of history. The result is both a heartfelt elegy and a new sacred text.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781668078402","publication_date":"20260120","publisher":"Scribner","slug":"the-book-of-alice","subtitle":"Poems","title":"The Book of Alice"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"POE005050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"African American Poetry","score":0.7884,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Family Poems","score":0.7678,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Political & Protest Poetry","score":0.7651,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"POE005050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"African American Poetry","score":0.7884,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Family Poems","score":0.7678,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"POE023060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Political & Protest Poetry","score":0.7651,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"POE005050","confidence_band":"high","label":"African American Poetry","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POE023050","confidence_band":"high","label":"Family Poems","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"POE024000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Women Poets","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"African American Poetry","score":0.7884,"slug":"african-american-poetry"},{"label":"Family Poems","score":0.7678,"slug":"family-poems"},{"label":"Political & Protest Poetry","score":0.7651,"slug":"political-protest-poetry"}],"reader_fit":["For readers interested in poetry about Black family history and survival","For readers drawn to poetry that reframes biblical forms"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Elizabeth Acevedo"],"book_id":"9780062931948","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062931948.jpg?v=6263867ac9cd4447","score":0.6975,"title":"Inheritance","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062931948"},{"authors":["Toni Cade Bambara","Eleanor W Traylor","Toni Cade","Frances Beale"],"book_id":"9780743476973","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780743476973.jpg?v=78c2b56c36ba9282","score":0.6911,"title":"The Black Woman","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780743476973"},{"authors":["Jacqueline Woodson"],"book_id":"9780147515827","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780147515827.jpg?v=e74c26f22bf0e94f","score":0.6764,"title":"Brown Girl Dreaming","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780147515827"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:poetry"],"label":"Poetry","score":0.1898,"slug":"poetry"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:best poetry collections"],"label":"Best","score":0.1119,"slug":"best"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:black writers"],"label":"Black","score":0.1007,"slug":"black"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:poetry collection"],"label":"Collection","score":0.035,"slug":"collection"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:contemporary poets"],"label":"Contemporary","score":0.0335,"slug":"contemporary"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Lineage and survival, Black life in the Jim Crow South, Biblical narratives and lived experience.","Themes: Poetry, Black, Collection.","Reading lane: African American Poetry and Family Poems."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.92,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["For readers interested in poetry about Black family history and survival","For readers drawn to poetry that reframes biblical forms"],"themes":["Lineage and survival","Black life in the Jim Crow South","Biblical narratives and lived experience"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":6,"goodreads_ratings_count":30,"goodreads_reviews_count":12,"quality_score":0.8625}}