There was always music in Memphis”-even as she lays bare its history of racism and violence. Stringfellow romanticizes Memphis-“Magnolias were white with bloom and as fragrant as honeysuckle. As the narrative stretches further into the past, the reader learns about Miriam’s mother, Hazel, and how she endured the aftermath of her husband’s lynching in the 1950s. The reunion-and the tension felt by Joan-sets the stage for an unearthing of family secrets and an exploration of the traumas each generation has survived. Stringfellow tells the story in bits and pieces, moving backward and forward in time there’s a hint early on that Derek, August’s 15-year-old son, harmed Miriam’s 10-year-old daughter, Joan, when they were younger. In 1995, Miriam North flees her abusive husband with their two daughters, returning to Memphis to live with her sister, August, in the house Miriam and August grew up in. But Joan still looks for the beauty in this city, in its people – and she realizes that to make a future for herself, she must find her own song to sing.Stringfellow’s vibrant debut celebrates the resilience of women over multiple generations in a Black Memphis family, as well as the city that is central to their lives. Streets once filled with the beat of protest and blues, now echo with gunfire. Memphis has changed since Joan’s grandparents lived there. But she also sees their resilience and courage, how these extraordinary women fry green tomatoes and braid hair and sing all the while. But when the front door opens, she does remember her cousin Derek.Īs Joan learns more about her family’s past she discovers she’s not the only North woman to have experienced great hurt. 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. Joan was only a child the last time she visited Memphis. ‘ This story truly touched my soul’ PRIMA, BOOK OF THE MONTHįleeing her husband’s explosive temper, Miriam has brought her two daughters, Joan and Mya, back to Memphis, to the home her father built in the 40s. ‘ An American epic’ CHLOE BENJAMIN, bestselling author of The Immortalists ‘If ever there was a novel that reflects how the past can shape us, and how we can change our story, it’s this stunning debut’ WOMAN AND HOME
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