JJ’s attempts to romance Ava lead to a sexual affair which causes Ava to have something of a nervous breakdown. Sylvia and Ava are both happy to see JJ, but Sylvia worries that JJ will only make things worse for Ava. Ava is devastated about this because she herself has been trying for years to conceive, only to repeatedly suffer miscarriages. Nevertheless, love still exists between Sylvia and Don.Īva’s husband, Henry, has been having a years-long affair with Carrie, a white woman by whom Don has a son. Sylvia’s husband, Don, has left Sylvia for a much younger woman. Sylvia is reminded by JJ of her son, Devon, killed by a car while walking home many years before. JJ himself came to town to live with relatives following his mother’s suicide, caused by his father’s cruelties and abuse. JJ’s appearance stirs up old feelings, memories, trials, and difficulties. He is now a self-made man with plenty of money to build a home on Brushy Mountain Road. Ava’s boyfriend from youth, JJ, now going by “Jay,” returns to town. Although Ava is successful and could easily leave, she is living with her husband, Henry, in the town where she grew up. Sylvia’s thirty-eight year-old daughter, Ava, works as a manager at the bank in town.

Sylvia watches as most young people struggle to leave town, only to come back. The town is primarily black and segregated by class. Sylvia and her family live in the North Carolina town of Pinewood. Sylvia struggles to hold together the family. At the head of the family is matriarch Sylvia, who feels as if she has failed her children. The story revolves around the African-American Ross family and their associates.

No One is Coming to Save Us is a character-driven novel of family and dreams by Stephanie Powell Watts. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Watts, Stephanie Powell.

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