Homegoing: A BBC Between the Covers Book Club pick for 2024 - Softcover

Gyasi, Yaa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241975239 ISBN 13: 9780241975237

Publisher: Penguin, 2017

Synopsis

A BBC Top 100 Novels that Shaped Our World

Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow. Taking us from the Gold Coast of Africa to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel - the intimate, gripping story of a brilliantly vivid cast of characters and through their lives the very story of America itself.

Epic in its canvas and intimate in its portraits, Homegoing is a searing and profound debut from a masterly new writer.

'This incredible book travels from Ghana to the US revealing how slavery destroyed so many families, traditions and lives - and how its terrifying impact is still reverberating now. Gyasi has created a story of real power and insight' Stylist, the Decade's 15 Best Books by Remarkable Women

Selected for Granta's Best of Young American Novelists 2017
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Best First Book
Shortlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction
Shortlisted for the Beautiful Book Award 2017

About this title

Review

Homegoing is a novel I wish I could have read when I was a young woman. An intelligent, beautiful and healing read, destined to become a classic (Zadie Smith)

I think I needed to read a book like this to remember what is possible. I think I needed to remember what happens when you pair a gifted literary mind to an epic task. Homegoing is an inspiration (Ta-Nehisi Coates, National Book Award winning author of 'Between the World and Me')

Shows the unmistakable touch of a gifted writer (The New Yorker)

Homegoing is one hell of a book... I recommend Homegoing without reservation. Definitely a must read for 2016. (Roxane Gay)

Wildly ambitious debut by a 26-year-old writer . . . It's impossible not to admire the ambition and scope of Homegoing (Michiko Kakutani New York Times)

Remarkable, is a devastating account of America....explores horror without ever losing sight of humanity or hope (Sunday Times 3 To Watch)

The brilliance of this structure, in which we know more than the characters do about the fate of their parents and children, pays homage to the vast scope of slavery without losing sight of its private devastation . . . . [Toni Morrison's] influence is palpable in Gyasi's historicity and lyricism; she shares Morrison's uncanny ability to crystalize, in a single event, slavery's moral and emotional fallout. What is uniquely Gyasi's is her ability to connect it so explicitly to the present day: No novel has better illustrated the way in which racism became institutionalized in this country. (Vogue US)

Homegoing is a remarkable feat - a novel at once epic and intimate, capturing the moral weight of history as it bears down on individual struggles, hopes and fears. A tremendous debut (Phil Klay, National Book Award-winning author of Redeployment)

A marvellous novel (Starred Publishers Weekly)

[A] commanding debut . . . will stay with you long after you've finished reading. When people talk about all the things fiction can teach its readers, they're talking about books like this (Marie Claire)

From the Back Cover

'Homegoing is a novel I wish I could have read when I was a young woman' Zadie Smith
Effia and Esi: two sisters with two very different destinies. One sold into slavery; one a slave trader's wife. The consequences of their fate reverberate through the generations that follow: from the Gold Coast of Africa to the plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem. Spanning continents and generations, Yaa Gyasi has written a miraculous novel - an intense, heartbreaking story of one family and through their lives, the story of America itself.
'A wonderfully evocative and compassionate novel. Homegoing is a gift to its readers and a treasure to cherish' Petina Gappah, Financial Times
'Homegoing has something better than perfection, and that is a touch of magic . . . Gyasi is the right artist at the right time' New Statesman
'A beautiful, wise and illuminating novel that doesn't flinch from its difficult subject, but manages to be healing and hopeful' Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Times

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0241975239
• ISBN 13: 9780241975237
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320