Dominion by Addie E. Citchens Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Southern Secrets, Church Trauma, and the Fall of Wonderboy 😮💨📖
🚨 Trigger Warnings
Before diving in, please know that Dominion contains:
⚠️ Sexual assault and rape
⚠️ Physical and emotional abuse
⚠️ Domestic violence
⚠️ Spiritual abuse and religious manipulation
⚠️ Addiction and substance abuse
⚠️ Suicide and suicidal ideation
⚠️ Animal cruelty and animal death
⚠️ Violence and murder
⚠️ Pregnancy termination
⚠️ Mental illness
⚠️ Homophobia and anti-gay bias
⚠️ Graphic content and strong language
🌧️ Quick Thoughts
Addie E. Citchens's debut novel is Southern Gothic at its messiest, darkest, and most fascinating. And when I say messy, I mean the kind of messy where everybody in town knows something ain't right, but everyone would rather smile at Sunday service and pretend the house isn't on fire. 🙃
The title Dominion carries several meanings throughout the novel. It's the name of the Mississippi town where the story takes place, but it also represents:
✝️ The control of a minister over his congregation.
💍 A husband over his wife.
👨🏾 Men over women.
🍾 Addiction over broken people.
🤐 Reputation over truth.
And honestly? That theme runs through every single page.
🌾 Southern Gothic Done Right
This book is deeply rooted in the South, and Lord have mercy, the secrets are THICK. 😭
Citchens paints a picture of a community where appearances matter more than accountability. Everybody wants to protect "the family name," the church, and the image they've built, even when terrible things are happening behind closed doors.
One thing that really struck me was how accurately the book portrays the tendency within some Black Southern families to cover up sick stuff rather than confront it.
Because heaven forbid folks start talking.
Can't let Sister Betty from the usher board hear the tea. 🙃
Instead, everybody gathers around saying:
"We're gonna pray about it."
Meanwhile, Satan is probably somewhere saying:
"Don't put this on me. Y'all need therapy." 😭
The novel does a fantastic job showing how some people would rather cast out imaginary demons than address actual abuse and trauma.
Because apparently every problem is a spirit.
Spirit of lust.
Spirit of rebellion.
Spirit of addiction.
Spirit of bad knees.
Spirit of somebody eating the last piece of fried chicken.
Everything except the spirit of "Maybe we need professional help." 😭
✝️ Religion, Patriarchy, and Abuse of Power
One of my favorite aspects of Dominion was its exploration of religious hypocrisy and patriarchal expectations.
Reverend Sabre Winfrey Jr. is respected, handsome, and beloved by the community. But behind the pulpit and fancy suits lies a man who uses religion to maintain control over everyone around him.
Priscilla, his wife, has spent years enduring emotional abuse, manipulation, and betrayal. She numbs herself with pills and whiskey while maintaining the image of the perfect First Lady.
Citchens has a lot to say about how religion can be weaponized and how women are expected to endure suffering quietly because that's what "good wives" do.
And whew, she did not come to play.
👩🏾 Dual Perspectives That Work Beautifully
The story alternates between:
💊 Priscilla Winfrey — the minister's wife.
💕 Diamond Bailey — the girlfriend of the youngest son, Emanuel "Wonderboy" Winfrey.
Citchens takes her time building the story. Some readers may find the pace slow, but I appreciated how carefully she established the world and its characters.
At first glance, both Sabre and Wonderboy are handsome, charming, and adored by the community.
But baby…
Good looks ain't a personality. 😭
Both men have rotten cores hiding beneath polished exteriors.
And watching the women in their lives slowly realize the truth was heartbreaking.
🚨 SPOILER WARNING 🚨
FULL PLOT SUMMARY AND ENDING EXPLAINED
Major spoilers ahead!
Proceed accordingly. 👀
📖 Complete Plot Summary of Dominion by Addie E. Citchens
The story centers around the powerful Winfrey family in Dominion, Mississippi.
Reverend Sabre Winfrey Jr. leads the Seven Seals Missionary Baptist Church and enjoys enormous influence within the community. His wife, Priscilla, suffers chronic pain from a childhood injury and relies heavily on prescription pills and alcohol.
Their youngest son, Emanuel "Wonderboy" Winfrey, is handsome, gifted, and viewed as the town's golden child. He's dating Diamond Bailey, who lives with her adoptive mother Maggie after being abandoned by her biological mother years earlier.
Diamond and Manny initially intend to remain celibate, but things begin to unravel quickly.
One day, Priscilla walks in on Manny standing over a naked Diamond while masturbating. The encounter leaves her disturbed because she recognizes something chillingly familiar in her son—the same sense of dominion she has experienced from her husband.
Interludes reveal that Manny sexually assaulted a girl years earlier.
Priscilla recalls years of abuse and emotional trauma in her marriage, including the horrifying day Sabre brutally beat their dog, Sam, to death. Their marriage never truly recovered.
Meanwhile, Manny steals Priscilla's emerald earrings and gives them to Diamond.
Priscilla, battling addiction, frequently buys pills from Tyrone Benny, known locally as the Joker.
Everything takes an even darker turn when Manny encounters an unknown man while running at the high school track. After racing, the stranger unexpectedly kisses him. Terrified and enraged by his own feelings, Manny vomits.
The Joker witnesses the encounter and attempts to blackmail him.
Because apparently murder sounded like a better option than therapy.
Wonderful. 😒
Manny beats and strangles the Joker to death, hides the body, and later convinces Diamond's brother Yancey to help dispose of it.
Afterward, Yancey disappears.
🚩 BIG. RED. BILLBOARD-SIZED. FLAGS.
Yet Diamond remains devoted to Wonderboy.
Girl…
If denial burned calories, she'd have abs. 😭
Meanwhile, another family accuses Manny of sexually assaulting their daughter, Caticia Wooten. Predictably, the accusation goes nowhere because Wonderboy's reputation shields him.
Priscilla even convinces herself that perhaps everyone is wrong.
Because denial is basically a second religion in Dominion.
Eventually, Manny persuades Diamond to run away with him to Long Beach.
Things become increasingly bizarre. Manny spirals into drinking and drug use, disappears, returns beaten and confused, and then overdoses on pills belonging to the deceased Joker.
After being hospitalized, he mysteriously says:
"She's pregnant. A girl named Sonja."
The name belongs to Diamond's biological mother—a name Diamond never shared with him.
Whether this is supernatural or psychological remains deliberately ambiguous.
Back home, Priscilla discovers Sabre's affair and finally decides she's had enough. Reverend Winfrey publicly confesses his shortcomings and steps down from the church.
For approximately five minutes, I almost believed accountability had entered the chat.
Almost. 😭
Manny later brings Priscilla a locked box from his room.
Inside she discovers a horrifying collection of women's panties collected over the years.
Among them is a friendship bracelet belonging to Yancey.
At that point the man formerly known as Wonderboy officially became WTFboy in my head.
Because SIR.
WHAT IS THIS? 😭
Priscilla reveals everything to Diamond, including the assault accusations against Manny.
Diamond realizes Manny was the last person to see her brother alive.
Seeking justice, Diamond anonymously mails one of the pairs of panties to Jimmy Wooten, father of the girl Manny assaulted.
Jimmy immediately understands what the package means.
He begins following Manny.
Later, newspapers report that Emanuel Winfrey died during what authorities describe as a home invasion and rape attempt.
At the funeral, his obituary highlights his achievements while conveniently leaving out the ugly truth.
Because of course it does.
The town protects its image until the very end.
But in the novel's final revelation, Diamond admits she was the one who mailed the panties to Jimmy Wooten, setting the events in motion that led to Manny's death.
Standing over Wonderboy's body, she decides not to continue her pregnancy and plans to leave Dominion behind forever.
And honestly?
Leaving that town was the healthiest decision made by anybody in this entire book. 😭
😂 My Thoughts
I really enjoyed this book.
✔️ The themes are powerful.
✔️ The Southern atmosphere is incredible.
✔️ The commentary on religion and patriarchy is sharp.
✔️ Priscilla and Diamond were fascinating characters.
✔️ Wonderboy had me yelling at the pages every five chapters.
That damn Wonderboy.
This man had more red flags than a Target clearance aisle during Valentine's Day. 🚩😭
However, I did have a few issues.
The format could occasionally be confusing. Some sections abruptly switched perspectives, and I had no clue who was talking for a minute.
And those minister's notes?
Baby…
Those notes were like raisins in potato salad.
Nobody asked for them. 😭
They completely took me out of the story and felt more distracting than meaningful.
⭐ Final Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 Stars
Dominion is a dark, haunting Southern Gothic novel about abuse, religious hypocrisy, generational trauma, and the dangerous power of protecting appearances at all costs.
It's uncomfortable, tragic, occasionally funny, and full of difficult truths.
And if there's one lesson this book teaches, it's that being handsome and quoting scripture don't mean a thing if you're rotten on the inside.
Because baby, pretty packaging can still contain spoiled milk. 😭
📚 Books I'd Recommend If You Enjoyed Dominion
📖 The Reformatory — Tananarive Due
📖 Blacktop Wasteland — S. A. Cosby
📖 Sing, Unburied, Sing — Jesmyn Ward
📖 Salvage the Bones — Jesmyn Ward
📖 When the Reckoning Comes — LaTanya McQueen
📖 The Devil All the Time — Donald Ray Pollock
📖 A Lesson Before Dying — Ernest J. Gaines
📖 The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store — James McBride
📖 Homegoing — Yaa Gyasi
📖 The Trees — Percival Everett
🙋🏾♀️ Have you read Dominion? Let me know your thoughts below! 👇📚✨
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