Desperate to treat her daughter, Leonie gathers blackberry plants to treat her daughter's illness, despite not remembering most of the herb craft her mother taught her as she was growing up. Kayla becomes ill after the stop at the house and gets sick several times in the car. On the way there, Leonie and Misty stop off to pick up a load of crystal meth, which they hide in a secret compartment of the car placed there by Michael before he went to prison for manufacturing drugs. While she is there, Big Joseph, Michael's father, aims a gun at her, so she speeds off. The next morning, Leonie stops at the house of Michael's parents with a note explaining that she will be picking up Michael. Leonie picks up an extra shift at the bar where she works that night and gets high afterward with Misty, who convinces her the trip to Parchman is a good opportunity to smuggle drugs to the lawyer who defends her boyfriend (also incarcerated) and Michael. Leonie decides to pick Michael up from prison and to take her children on her journey with her.

That night, while the family celebrates with a store-bought cake, Michael calls to tell Leonie that he is being released from prison.

The novel opens with Jojo accompanying Pop as he slaughters a goat. They leave behind Leonie's mother, Mam, who is dying of cancer, and Pop, (who cannot bring himself to go back to Parchman. Leonie's own father, River (Pop to his grandchildren), was falsely imprisoned there during the 1940s. In the present day, the 13-year-old Jojo and his little sister accompany his mother, Leonie, and her friend, Misty, on a trip to retrieve the children's father, Michael, from Parchman.

Sing, Unburied, Sing follows the story of a family whose history is tied up with the Mississippi State Penitentiary, also known as Parchman Farm. The following version of this book was used to create this Study Guide: Ward, Jesmyn.

Sing unburied sing novel