It is in sketching portraits of the women in her life, her aunt and her mother, the women who come to have their hair done, the women who come to chat and gossip, that Joan begins laughing again, begins living. And now this house is the only place Joan has left. August lives there still, running a salon where the neighbourhood women gather. Fifty years ago, Hazel's husband was lynched by his all-white police squad, yet she made a life for herself and her daughters in the majestic house he built for them. They are no strangers to adversity resilience runs in their blood. This house full of history is home to the women of the North family. But when the front door opens, she does remember Derek. How the smell of honeysuckle is almost overwhelming as she climbs the porch steps to the house where her mother grew up. She doesn't know she's as likely to hear a gunshot ring out as the sound of children playing. She doesn't remember the bustle of Beale Street on a summer's night. But Joan still looks for the beauty in this city, in its people – and she realizes that to make a future for herself, she must find her own song to sing.Joan was only a child the last time she visited Memphis. Streets once filled with the beat of protest and blues, now echo with gunfire. Memphis has changed since Joan’s grandparents lived there.
But she also sees their resilience and courage, how these extraordinary women fry green tomatoes and braid hair and sing all the while. But when the front door opens, she does remember her cousin Derek.Īs Joan learns more about her family’s past she discovers she’s not the only North woman to have experienced great hurt. She doesn’t remember the bustle of Beale Street on a summer’s night or the smell of honeysuckle as she climbs the porch steps to her aunt’s house.
Joan was only a child the last time she visited Memphis. ‘ This story truly touched my soul’ PRIMA, BOOK OF THE MONTHįleeing her husband’s explosive temper, Miriam has brought her two daughters, Joan and Mya, back to Memphis, to the home her father built in the 40s.
‘ An American epic’ CHLOE BENJAMIN, bestselling author of The Immortalists ‘If ever there was a novel that reflects how the past can shape us, and how we can change our story, it’s this stunning debut’ WOMAN AND HOME
0 kommentar(er)
