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“On the Roof Top” by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton tells the story of what happens when one person’s dreams for their children are not the dreams of the children.

The story follows Vivian and her daughters Ruth (the oldest), Esther and Chloe. Vivian wants the three girls to make it big as a girl act called The Salvations. The story begins in the 1950s in an area near San Francisco called the Fillmore, which is on the cusp of being gentrified. The businesses and homes of Black families, who have lived and worked there for generations, are being bought up by white developers.

Vivian’s three daughters are extremely talented, and she coordinates their routines and schedules their club dates. She has high hopes that she can sign them with a talent scout who will take them around the country and make them famous. She has the girls practice long hours on the roof top of the building where they live.

Unfortunately, the girls have other plans for their futures.

Ruth is in love with the boy next door. She finds herself pregnant and the two want to marry, which they do. However, Ruth needs to break the news to her mother that she is leaving performing with her sisters. The news does not set well with Vivian, nor her sisters since they have never performed without their big sister.

Esther, the middle sister, struggles with not wanting to sing or perform, only doing it to please her mother. That is, until she discovers a “calling.” She works in a bookstore and the owner, with Esther’s help, becomes an activist to try to convince the Black business and homeowners not to sell their properties to the white developers for any price.

Esther starts to write and perform protest songs at demonstrations around the Fillmore neighborhood. These demonstrations draw crowds not just to hear the speeches, but to hear Esther sing.

And Chloe? She finds she can perform, even shine, as a solo act. However, problems arise between Vivian and Chloe when Chloe becomes involved with a white man, the son of one of the developers, which drives an almost irreparable tear in their once close mother-daughter relationship.

At the same time, Vivian, a long-time widow, becomes romantically involved with her preacher, a widower, opening her heart to the possibility for happiness but also risking great pain. This, along with what she perceives as her daughters’ betrayals and the crumbling of her neighborhood, makes Vivian a sympathetic character.

The reader can empathize with Vivian as a mother who only wants the best for her children and will work hard to make her dream come true. There is also sympathy and understanding for each of the daughters who feel they should be allowed to pursue their own dreams of happiness, but do not want to disappoint their mother or one another.