--- title: My Monticello: 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 description: Find out why "My Monticello" by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. canonical: https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120701/my-monticello/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-11-29T13:16:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:59:07.776Z og:title: 'My Monticello' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 og:description: Here's why it made the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120701/my-monticello/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'My Monticello' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'My Monticello' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 twitter:description: Here's why it made the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 29, 2021 # My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  In her debut story collection, _My Monticello_, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson explores with nuance and compassion what it means to call someplace “home,” despite that place perpetually reminding you that you do not belong. The collection is largely set in Charlottesville, Va., where Thomas Jefferson’s plantation sits and where Johnson was a public-school art teacher for nearly two decades. It’s also the location of the infamous and deadly 2017 white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally, which seemingly provided the inspiration for the titular novella, in which a Black descendant of Jefferson and Sally Hemmings takes refuge at the plantation while hiding from violent white supremacists. As her characters consider what it means to be Black in a city—and a country—with such a troubled legacy, Johnson asks us to consider what we consider home and why. **Buy Now:** _My Monticello_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781250807151) | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/3qI9rIs) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120701/my-monticello/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120701/my-monticello/"},"headline":"My Monticello","datePublished":"2021-11-29T13:16:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:59:07.776Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120701/my-monticello/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120701/my-monticello/","name":"My Monticello"}}]}] ```