Edward P. Jones accomplishes the amazing feat of writing whole books in his head, and the result is as close to omniscience as you can imagine. He knows their past, present, and future, and doesn't hesitate to hint at all of them.

Still, though, some fates remain cloudy and become realized in their gaping horror over the course of the novel. The opening chapter is about the death of Henry Townsend, though you don't yet know him. Though the narrative seems atemporal at first, this is just a denser juxtaposition of flashbacks and "flashforwards" than any other book you've read. It eventually settles on following Henry from childhood into adulthood into the events after his death.

Jones takes as his subject a handful of black landowners who also kept slaves, and the way that the institution of slavery gradually deformed their lives and moral selves. It seems relatively settled at first, but starting about 1/3rd in the true horror of slavery starts to become apparent as Henry is turned against others and slowly shaped by Robbins into what he would call a "proper master."

In the end, fate works to undo those not undone by themselves, in a slow decline familiar to any viewer of The Wire. That show probably is the best analogy for how The Known World does its work, although Jones is freed by writing to make his picture of the world more pointillistic.

Would absolutely recommend to anyone.