Now a talented artist, obsessed by the beauty of the neighbourhood and its inhabitants, Joan is not in a hurry to forgive Derek, who slides further into a life of crime and gang killings. August and Miriam have their private sorrows, particularly when it comes to money and August's son Derek, who assaulted Joan when she was three years old. Almost forty years later, their daughter Miriam returns to Memphis, with her two girls Joan and Mya in tow, to stay with her half-sister August, the best singer and hairdresser in town. Hazel is nine months pregnant when her beloved husband Myron is lynched, and the neighbours stand guard over the house all night. Covering similar subject matter and roughly the same time periods as Red at the Bone, Memphis was similarly compelling and I look forward to seeing more novels from Tara M. This heady, sensual book is a slow burn to begin with, but when faced with writing this good, it's impossible to put it down. Epic in scope yet intimate in detail, it is a vivid portrait of three generations of a Southern black family, as well as an ode to the city they call home.

Memphis is a celebration of the enduring strength of female bonds, of what we pass down, from mother to daughter.

She can't change her families past.but can she change their future?

Miriam had to leave her violent marriage for the sake of her two girls.Īugust turned her back on her dreams so she could provide for her family.īut these extraordinary women of the North family also fry green tomatoes and gut catfish and tuck their children in at night and do hair and sing all the while.Īnd now Joan is back where it all began.MEMPHIS. Hazel was nine months pregnant when her husband was lynched by his Memphis police squad. 'Memphis is an American epic, a tribute to life in all of its sorrow and joyful resilience'Ĭhloe Benjamin, bestselling author of The Immortalists Jacqueline Woodson, bestselling author of Red at the Bone 'Tara Stringfellow will be an author to watch for years to come.

Book memphis by tara stringfellow