Tangleroot: Chapters 20–25

by Kalela Williams
Noni Reid has to leave her Boston home and move with her perfect, successful mom back to the family's southern roots in rural Virginia. There, she not only struggles with her mom's acceptance of her, but also the truth she uncovers about southern plantation life and who is related to whom.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–9, Chapters 10–14, Chapters 15–19, Chapters 20–25
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. rebuttal
    the speech act of refuting by offering a contrary argument
    “At Magnolia High School, for instance, my son turned in a thesis paper, which his teacher published in the school gazette. Then unprompted, and unasked for, Radiance took it upon herself to write a rebuttal, and to disseminate it throughout the school!”
  2. disseminate
    cause to become widely known
    “At Magnolia High School, for instance, my son turned in a thesis paper, which his teacher published in the school gazette. Then unprompted, and unasked for, Radiance took it upon herself to write a rebuttal, and to disseminate it throughout the school!”
  3. vintage
    old but having enduring appeal or importance; classic
    From a drawer in the senator’s desk, she took out a velvet jewelry box, and placed it on the coffee table. I slipped it into my bag. Vintage buttons, which Lana Jean insisted upon sourcing for her daughter’s gown, careened inside like marbles.
  4. drivel
    a worthless message
    After hearing Lana Jean’s praise about her son’s racist drivel, I’d lost my appetite for sewing.
  5. secessionist
    a person who wants to break free from a larger group
    With the score 41–28, the Magnolia High School Secessionists were getting slaughtered by the Buffalo Gap Billies, as if it were the actual Civil War and the field was in Gettysburg.
  6. decanter
    a bottle with a stopper; for serving drinks
    We’d done arranged the decanters on the shelf to be just so when we’d never took a sip.
  7. contrived
    showing effects of planning or manipulation
    History becomes a story that places the reader at some contrived resolution, the way even the most sobering of museums deposit guests at the gift shop.
  8. bunting
    a loosely woven fabric used for flags, etc.
    At the courthouse, workers draped red-white-and-blue bunting all along the balustrades.
  9. balustrade
    a railing at the side of a staircase or balcony
    At the courthouse, workers draped red-white-and-blue bunting all along the balustrades.
  10. transgression
    the action of going beyond some boundary or limit
    Even when I felt so cut off by Fluvie at Town Hall—because of my own transgression—I shouldn’t have colluded with Lana Jean as a way out of my own shame.
  11. collude
    act in unison and in secret towards a deceitful purpose
    Even when I felt so cut off by Fluvie at Town Hall—because of my own transgression—I shouldn’t have colluded with Lana Jean as a way out of my own shame.
  12. bequeath
    leave or give, especially by will after one's death
    “If you have children one day, you can bequeath them. They’re yours now.”
  13. gall
    irritate or vex
    That she knew what her son did—that she knew! And that she treated my mother’s child with such a disgusting and cruel action galled me.
  14. traumatic
    psychologically painful
    I had no memory of it. But my mother! It must have been so angering, so hurtful, so traumatic, on top of the terrible experience of giving testimony. How dare Lana Jean!
  15. carpetbagger
    an outsider who seeks power or success presumptuously
    “That carpetbagger! Trying to change the name of a renowned Virginia college …”
Created on Mon Sep 07 21:21:30 EDT 2026 (updated Tue Oct 13 13:34:56 EDT 2026)

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