Memphis: a vivid Southern debut paying tribute to an indelible family of females, longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023 - Softcover

Stringfellow, Tara M

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1529339251 ISBN 13: 9781529339253

Publisher: John Murray, 2023

Synopsis

'A rhapsodic hymn to Black women' New York Times Book Review

FAMILY CAN HOLD YOU TOGETHER. AND TEAR YOU APART.

Joan was only a child the last time she visited Memphis. 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. But when the front door opens, she immediately remembers her cousin Derek.

As Joan learns more about her family's past she discovers she's not the only North woman to have experienced great hurt. But she also sees their resilience and courage, how these extraordinary women fry green tomatoes and braid hair and sing all the while.

Joan can't change the past, but she can change her future. It's time to find her own song to sing.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE

**** READERS LOVE MEMPHIS ****

'I couldn't put it down. You will fall in love with these women'

'One of the best books I've ever read'

'Utterly spellbinding'

'This book has my entire heart'

'It felt so real - I cried at their pain and smiled at their joy'

'Intricately plotted, wildly satisfying'

'Epic, in every sense of the word. It completely blew me away'

About this title

About the Author

Poet, former attorney, Northwestern University MFA graduate, and semifinalist for the Fulbright Fellowship, Tara M Stringfellow has written for Collective Unrest, Minerva Rising, Jet Fuel Review, Women Arts Quarterly Journal and Apogee Journal, among other publications. After having lived in Okinawa, Ghana, Chicago, Cuba, Spain, Italy, and Washington, D.C., she moved back home to Memphis, where she sits on her porch swing with her hound, Huckleberry, every evening, listening to records and chatting with neighbours.

From the Back Cover

Joan was only a child the last time she visited Memphis. She doesn't remember the bustle of Beale Street on a summer's night. She doesn't know she's as likely to hear a gunshot ring out as the sound of children playing. How the smell of honeysuckle is almost overwhelming as she climbs the porch steps to the house where her mother grew up. But when the front door opens, she does remember Derek.

This house full of history is home to the women of the North family. They are no strangers to adversity; resilience runs in their blood. 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. August lives there still, running a salon where the neighbourhood women gather. And now this house is the only place Joan has left. 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.

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

Edition details

• Publisher: John Murray
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1529339251
• ISBN 13: 9781529339253
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272