A Woman's Place: (Of the Diaspora)

By Marita Golden

Book Overview

It is 1968 and everything about being a Black woman in America is changing. A society once walled off has begun opening doors. Against this backdrop, three young women meet at a New England college and form a friendship that endures, heals, and dramatically shapes their lives. With backgrounds and temperaments symbolic of the many questions around attaining selfhood in the aftermath of freedom movements, Faith, Crystal and Serena struggle to exercise personal agency in an era when family history, along with race and gender identities, threaten to dictate their paths. As a poet-creative Crystal reaches for expression in language and in choosing who and how she loves. As a budding activist, Serena eschews conventions of marriage, and belonging, to become a global being, leaving the soil of America for Africa, where NGO work evolves into leading women toward an independence she herself maintains by remaining the mistress, never the bride, of a powerful man. Surprisingly, it is Faith, the most introverted, drawn into the self by a series of traumas, whose seemingly self-limiting choices will more directly affect a generation of women to come. The Philadelphia Tribune declared it, "a story of hope, a story of triumph and, above all, a testimony to resilience."

Published in 1986 after the award-winning autobiography Migrations of the Heart, A Woman's Place is Marita Golden's first novel. More than fourteen books in fiction and nonfiction, including Gumbo: An Anthology of African-American Writing co-edited with E. Lynn Harris, followed. Golden went on to create and helm the Hurston/Wright Foundation, which has become a literary rite of passage for such talents as Nicole Dennis-Benn, Brit Bennett and Tayari Jones. A Woman's Place is reprinted here as an esteemed addition to McSweeney's Of the Diaspora series, edited by Erica Vital-Lazare, and opens with a new introduction by the author, with foreword by Women's March co-founder Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1952119448
• ISBN13: 9781952119446
• Release Date: October 2022
• Publisher: Of the Diaspora
• Length: 329 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.9" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Ok

This is the story of Faith, Serena, and Crystal. The three ladies first meet at a white college where they all are roommates. The novel's let's you find out what happen to the ladies after college. Faith becomes a muslim, Serena ends up movin and working in africa, and Crystal marries a white guy. The book is real good, it's written from all of the women's viewpoint.

Know your past so you can prosper in the future

Reading this book made me realize that the world hasn't changed. Serena, Faith and Aisha all are looking for their place in society and each go about finding it her own unique way, using their God given talents. I'm glad I read this because it teaches about the African American authors that came before Terry, EJD and E Lynn Harris whom these authors emulate.

True to life

This book kept my interest from the very beginning because it was so true to life. I have a best friend who has had the same experience. Reading the book brought back all the feelings that I shared with her while she was going through her custody battle. She too had a manipulating husband and the court system seemed to rule against her time and time again. What a great read? I recommend it very highly.