Susan Straight Knihy

A rich, lyrical and passionate novel which portrays the life of a black woman growing up in America's Deep South.

In inland Southern California, Susan Straight, a self-proclaimed book nerd, and Dwayne Sims, an African American basketball player, began dating in high school. After marrying, they moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, where Straight met her mentor, James Baldwin, who inspired her to write. Back in Riverside, during family gatherings with the close-knit Sims clan, Straight and her daughters listened to stories of Dwayne's female ancestors, who escaped violence in post-slavery Tennessee, murder in Jim Crow Mississippi, and abusive relationships. Alberta Sims, Dwayne's mother, is central to this memoir. Straight's own family history also reflects resilience, tracing roots from Switzerland, Canada, and the Colorado Rockies to California. She introduces the Pakistani term biraderi to describe a complex kinship system, emphasizing the community that helped raise her daughters. Now grown and working in various fields, her daughters embody the legacy of their ancestors, carrying the heritage of three continents. Straight emphasizes, "We are not about borders. We are about love and survival." This memoir serves as both a social history and a personal narrative, celebrating America and the strength of women.

"A California epic following several native, diverse Californians grasping for air in a world that continues to marginalize them."--

The story follows Serafina, an undocumented worker forced to leave California and her young daughter Elvia behind. Twelve years later, armed with only a pair of silver barrettes as a memory, Serafina embarks on a perilous journey to reunite with Elvia, who is now a pregnant teenager searching for her mother. Their paths intertwine against a backdrop of struggling migrants and lost children, highlighting themes of love, hope, and the quest for family amidst hardship.

In the 1800s, African-American and Mexican-American families fled violence and segregation to come West, to make home and family in the promised land. Their descendants keep traditions and loyalty alive in driveways, boxing rings, restaurants, churches, and on the sidewalks filled with stories and kinship and laughter, rememory and love.