Do you love reading Historical fiction? Are you clueless about the next book to read? Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow PDF is just the right book for you! This book is a stunning work of art by author Tara M. Stringfellow. The writing is beautiful and the characters are so vibrant. Memphis follows three generations of women of the North family: Hazel and her daughters, August and Miriam, and Miriam’s daughters, Joan and Mya.
The North women face issues of trauma, abuse, and grief while living through major cultural events. At the heart of it all is the love between sisters, art, music, hair, faith, the city of Memphis, and butter pecan ice cream. A 2022 must-read novel that you shouldn’t miss for anything.
Table of Contents
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow PDF Free Download Details
- Book Title: Memphis PDF
- Author: Tara M. Stringfellow
- Published: April 5, 2022
- Goodreads Link: Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow PDF
- ISBN: 9780593230480
- Formats: [PDF] [Epub]
- No. of pages: Hardcover, 272 pages
- Size: 4 MB
- Genre: Literary fiction
- Language: English
- File Status: Not Available
- Price: $0
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow Book Summary
A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy.
In the summer of 1995, ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s violence, seeking refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. Half a century ago, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass–only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in Memphis. This wasn’t the first time violence altered the course of Joan’s family’s trajectory, and she knows it won’t be the last. Longing to become an artist, Joan pours her rage and grief into sketching portraits of the women of North Memphis–including their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who seems to know something about curses.
Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of voices, Memphis weaves back and forth in time to show how the past and future are forever intertwined. It is only when Joan comes to see herself as a continuation of a long matrilineal tradition–and the women in her family as her guides to healing–that she understands that her life does not have to be defined by vengeance. That the sole weapon she needs is her paintbrush.
Inspired by the author’s own family history, Memphis–the Black fairy tale she always wanted to read–explores the complexity of what we pass down, not only in our families, but in our country: police brutality and justice, powerlessness and freedom, fate and forgiveness, doubt and faith, sacrifice and love.
From the Publisher
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Written with the grace of a poet, Memphis is as hopeful as it is heartbreaking. I fell in love with this family, from Joan’s fierce heart to her grandmother Hazel’s determined resilience. Tara Stringfellow will be an author to watch for years to come. . . . A stellar debut.”—Jacqueline Woodson, bestselling author of Red at the Bone
“Memphis is an evocative, compelling tale that mines the depths of collective Black pain to arrive at something that might be, for once, Black healing. Writing in the ancestral tradition of stories passed from one generation to the next—relived, revised, revealed—Tara M. Stringfellow assembles an endearing and unforgettable cast of characters who find strength in vulnerability, safety in art, and liberation in telling the truth. This is a shining, splendid testimony in the vein of Gloria Naylor, Delores Phillips, Ayana Mathis, and Honorée Jeffers.”—Robert Jones, Jr., New York Times bestselling author of The Prophets
“In luminous, lyrical prose, Tara Stringfellow sings the song of the North women—and the North men—with wisdom, humor, and deep humanity. Memphis is an American epic, a tribute to life in all of its sorrow and joyful resilience.”—Chloe Benjamin, bestselling author of The Immortalists
“This vivid debut novel examines the tragedies, joys, and deep connections of one extraordinary Memphis family. . . . A story populated with unforgettable characters. Stringfellow’s prose is evocative. . . . A powerful family saga from a promising writer.”—Booklist
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow Book Review
Review by Paromjit [From Goodreads]
Tara M. Stringfellow’s beautifully written and moving debut charts the lives of 3 generations of black women, the sorrows, trauma, tragedy, poverty, violence, domestic and sexual abuse, sacrifice and heartbreak, and the consequences on the generations that follow. A blend of fact and fiction, the story takes place amidst the background of significant events in American history, such as the civil rights movement and the 2001 9/11 attacks, and the experience and impact of Southern American racism. Miriam finds herself escaping a violent partner and marriage with her two daughters, Joan and Mya, and with few choices open to her, she heads to Douglass, Memphis, Tennessee, to her family’s ancestral home, built by her grandfather, a black detective, who was lynched, whilst her grandmother, Hazel, was pregnant.
In a non-linear narrative that goes back and forth in time, the exact nature of the horrors, hopes, dreams, love and challenges of the lives and what happened to the women, and their battles to survive, are slowly revealed. Miriam’s sister, August, who has lost her faith in God and men, is having issues with her son, Derek. August welcomes Miriam and her daughters, she is an independent woman, with strong and supportive links in the community. A traumatised Joan finds solace and healing through art and the pictures she paints. There is a wide range of characters in the novel, vibrant and skilfully drawn, with each of the women having a distinctive voice.
This is a heartbreaking read, which I loved with its celebration of the strength and resilience of black women, of family, friendships and the community, in the face of the most adverse of circumstances. They have to deal with the poverty, inequalities, and the grief, despair and pain of the past, whilst trying to build and forge a future. This is such a terrifically memorable multigenerational family debut by Stringfellow, that it has me really looking forward to what she comes up with next.
About the Author [Tara M. Stringfellow ]
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, DC, she moved back home to Memphis, where she sits on her porch swing every evening with her hound, Huckleberry, listening to records and chatting with neighbors. –This text refers to the paperback edition.
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