The Women of Brewster Place


Book Description

The National Book Award-winning novel—and contemporary classic—that launched the brilliant career of Gloria Naylor, now with a foreword by Tayari Jones “[A] shrewd and lyrical portrayal of many of the realities of black life . . . Naylor bravely risks sentimentality and melodrama to write her compassion and outrage large, and she pulls it off triumphantly.” —The New York Times Book Review “Brims with inventiveness—and relevance.” —NPR's Fresh Air In her heralded first novel, Gloria Naylor weaves together the stories of seven women living in Brewster Place, a bleak-inner city sanctuary, creating a powerful, moving portrait of the strengths, struggles, and hopes of black women in America. Vulnerable and resilient, openhanded and openhearted, these women forge their lives in a place that in turn threatens and protects—a common prison and a shared home. Naylor renders both loving and painful human experiences with simple eloquence and uncommon intuition in this touching and unforgettable read.




The Men of Brewster Place


Book Description

Fifteen years ago, Gloria Naylor burst onto the American literary scene with The Women of Brewster Place. Now she has focused her attention on the other side of the story - the men of Brewster Place. Like the women, they are committed to one another and to their community. Ben, who died in the first Brewster Place novel, is resurrected to narrate the tales of seven men and the women who love them. The complexity of their personal issues and how they are resolved leaves the reader with renewed hope and optimism.




Mama Day


Book Description

A “wonderful novel” steeped in the folklore of the South from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Women of Brewster Place (The Washington Post Book World). On an island off the coast of Georgia, there’s a place where superstition is more potent than any trappings of the modern world. In Willow Springs, the formidable Mama Day uses her powers to heal. But her great niece, Cocoa, can’t wait to get away. In New York City, Cocoa meets George. They fall in love and marry quickly. But when she finally brings him home to Willow Springs, the island’s darker forces come into play. As their connection is challenged, Cocoa and George must rely on Mama Day’s mysticism. Told from multiple perspectives, Mama Day is equal parts star-crossed love story, generational saga, and exploration of the supernatural. Hailed as Gloria Naylor’s “richest and most complex” novel, it is the kind of book that stays with you long after the final page (Providence Journal).




Bailey's Cafe


Book Description

A “moving and memorable” novel about a cafe where everyone has a story to tell from the award-winning author of The Women of Brewster Place (The Boston Globe). In post–World War II Brooklyn, on a quiet backstreet, there’s a little place that draws people from all over—not for the food, and definitely not for the coffee. An in-between place that’s only there when you need it, Bailey’s Cafe is a crossroads where patrons stay for a while before making a choice: Move on or check out? In this novel, National Book Award–winning author Gloria Naylor’s expertly crafted characters experience a journey full of beauty and heartbreak. Touching on gender, race, and the African American experience, Bailey’s Cafe is “a sublime achievement” about the resilience of the human spirit (People).




Linden Hills


Book Description

The National Book Award–winning author of The Women of Brewster Place explores the secrets of an affluent black community. For its wealthy African American residents, the exclusive neighborhood of Linden Hills is a symbol of “making it.” The ultimate achievement: a home on prestigious Tupelo Drive. Making your way downhill to Tupelo is irrefutable proof of your worth. But the farther down the hill you go, the emptier you become . . . Using the descent of Dante’s Inferno as a model, this bold, haunting novel follows two young men as they attempt to find work amid the circles of the well-off community. Exploring a microcosm of race and social class, author Gloria Naylor reveals the true cost of success for the lost souls of Linden Hills—an existence trapped in a nightmare of their own making.




Gloria Naylor’s Fiction


Book Description

This edited volume offers innovative ways of analyzing economics in Gloria Naylor’s fiction, using interpretive strategies which are applicable to the entire tradition of African American literature. The writers gathered here embody years of insightful and vigorous Naylor scholarship. Underpinning each of the essays is a celebratory validation that Naylor is one of the most provocative novelists of our time.




This Side of Providence


Book Description

This tender novel tells a universal story of struggle, loss, and ultimately, survival. Arcelia Perez left Puerto Rico for the American dream, but within a few years she's living on the tough side of Providence, Rhode Island with three children, no job, and a powerful heroin addiction. Through rotating narration, we meet a diverse cast of characters—most notably Arcelia's charming, street-savvy son, Cristo, and his teacher, Miss Valentín—whose futures are inextricably linked as they strive to succeed against the odds. Born in Boston and raised in Providence and rural Minnesota, Rachel M. Harper is a graduate of Brown University and the master's program at USC. Her poems and short fiction have been published in the Carolina Review, Chicago Review, African American Review, Prairie Schooner, and the anthology Mending the World: Stories of Family by Contemporary Black Writers. She was chosen as one of Borders' "Best Original Voices" for her first novel, Brass Ankle Blues, which was also selected by Target's "Break Out Books" program. Harper has received fellowships from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, and won the 2002 Fellowship in Fiction from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. She teaches fiction at Spalding University's brief-residency MFA in Writing Program.




Nineteen Hundred and Ninety Six


Book Description

When a crotchety neighbor has a brother who is an official with the National Security Agency, the author finds a neighborly feud can become serious. This work has been described as a fictionalized memoir. There is an addendum of an essay and bibliography which provides the real life basis for the story's warning about government surveillance, mind control and electromagnetic weapons development. As the saying goes "You aren't paranoid, if they really are out to get you". Is this a conspiracy theory gone wild or the sighting of the tip of a real iceberg in our future.




Brass Ankle Blues


Book Description

Embarking on a season at her family's summerhouse with her father and a cousin, teen Nellie Kincaid encounters first love, shifting family loyalties, and an emerging sense of self that raises her awareness of her diverse heritage.




Conversations with Gloria Naylor


Book Description

Collected interviews with the author of The Women of Brewster Place, The Men of Brewster Place, and Linden Hills