It won the Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence and was longlisted for the 2021 Booker Prize.

The Sweetness of Water is set in the fictional town of Old Ox, Georgia, during the final period of the Civil War.

The story follows two Black brothers, Prentiss and Landry, freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, as they try to make money for their trek north to reunite with their mother.

The novel also features a parallel narrative following the taboo romance between two gay male Confederate soldiers.

During his third year of the program, he secured a literary agent, Emily Forland at Brandt & Hochman, who sent his manuscript to editors in June 2019.