Description: An “extraordinary” (Laurie Halse Anderson) young poet traces the lives of her foremothers in West Tennessee, from those enslaved centuries ago to her grandmother, her mother, and finally herself, in this stunning debut celebrating Black girlhood and womanhood throughout American history.
“A masterpiece that beautifully captures the heartbreak that accompanies coming of age for Black girls becoming Black women.”—Evette Dionne, author of Lifting as We Climb, longlisted for the National Book Award
Walking Gentry Home tells the story of Alora Young’s ancestors, from the unnamed women forgotten by the historical record but brought to life through Young’s imagination; to Amy, the first of Young’s foremothers to arrive in Tennessee, buried in an unmarked grave, unlike the white man who enslaved her and fathered her child; through Young’s great-grandmother Gentry, unhappily married at fourteen; to her own mother, the teenage beauty queen rejected by her white neighbors; down to Young in the present day as she leaves childhood behind and becomes a young woman.
The lives of these girls and women come together to form a unique American epic in verse, one that speaks of generational curses, coming of age, homes and small towns, fleeting loves and lasting consequences, and the brutal and ever-present legacy of slavery in our nation’s psyche. Each poem is a story in verse, and together they form a heart-wrenching and inspiring family saga of girls and women connected through blood and history.
Informed by archival research, the last will and testament of an enslaver, formal interviews, family lore, and even a DNA test, Walking Gentry Home gives voice to those too often muted in America: Black girls and women.
Price: 15.77 USD
Location: 07001
End Time: 2024-09-28T10:05:25.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
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Item Specifics
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Return policy details:
Narrative Type: book
Type: book
Intended Audience: General/trade
Book Title: Walking Gentry Home : a Memoir of My Foremothers in Verse
Number of Pages: 240 Pages
Language: English
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Item Height: 0.7 in
Publication Year: 2022
Topic: American / African American, Personal Memoirs, General, Subjects & Themes / Family
Illustrator: Yes
Genre: Poetry, Biography & Autobiography
Item Weight: 8.3 Oz
Item Length: 8.3 in
Author: Alora Young
Item Width: 5.6 in
Format: Trade Paperback
