My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson is a lyrical and powerful collection of stories. These stories explore home, acceptance and belonging. What it feels like to actually live in a place that doesn’t acknowledge you. Family, inheritance, responsibility of the people and property. These topics arise in each of the six stories in different ways. The inherent contradictions in ability to be self-aware and others’ perceptions. Every story was entirely unique and not at all like anything I had read previously.