by Tina Miles review by MEREDITH MCKINNIE In 1850, enslaved Rose learns her nine-year-old daughter Ashley will be sold after the death of the plantation’s master. Rose hurriedly packs a cotton sack with pecans, a braid of her own hair, a dress, and composed a brief note, “with my love, always” before...
by Jesmyn Ward review by MEREDITH MCKINNIE Ward’s heartbreaking and achingly poignant memoir explores her upbringing in DeLisle, Mississippi, a town that would eventually be wrecked by Hurricane Katrina. Raised primarily by her mother, with a father who was in and out of the house, Ward endures finan...
review by MEREDITH MCKINNIE “The family is like the forest: if you are outside it is dense; if you are inside you see that each tree has its own position.” In this sweeping epic that spans almost three centuries, Yaa Gyasi delivers a powerful punch to colonial history and the transatlantic slave trad...
