Blurb:
In the summer of 1995, ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s violence, seeking refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. Half a century ago, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass–only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in Memphis. This wasn’t the first time violence altered the course of Joan’s family’s trajectory, and she knows it won’t be the last. Longing to become an artist, Joan pours her rage and grief into sketching portraits of the women of North Memphis–including their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who seems to know something about curses.
Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of voices, Memphis weaves back and forth in time to show how the past and future are forever intertwined. It is only when Joan comes to see herself as a continuation of a long matrilineal tradition–and the women in her family as her guides to healing–that she understands that her life does not have to be defined by vengeance. That the sole weapon she needs is her paintbrush.
Inspired by the author’s own family history, Memphis–the Black fairy tale she always wanted to read–explores the complexity of what we pass down, not only in our families, but in our country: police brutality and justice, powerlessness and freedom, fate and forgiveness, doubt and faith, sacrifice and love.
Review:
What a punch this story packed in less than 300 pages. I could not put it down and when I was forced to put it down to participate in the real world, I couldnβt wait to get back to it.
Memphis follows the lives of the Joan, her mother, her sister, her aunt, and her grandmother. When Joan, her, and her sister flee from their father in the middle of the night, they end their journey in North Memphis. They return to the home Miriam grew up; The one her mother always said she could come home to.
The story is told from different points of view and throughout a timeline. Each of the women have their own demons to battle and they learn how to live with one another, especially with a dark cloud hovering over their lives. The strength and resilience that these women show during their lives keeps them going even when times seem as though everything is going to end.
I loved how the author blends the history of the family along with the history of Memphis.
Tara Stringfellow came into the publishing world swinging and I canβt wait to see what she does next. This story proves that women, especially black women, can overcome just about anything that is thrown at them. They find solace in things they love
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Rating:
1 Golden Girl, well basically at this point itβs Stan.
Content Warnings:
Sexual assault of a child and domestic abuse, and death of a parent.
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