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Memphis : a vivid Southern debut paying tribute to an indelible family of females, longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023 - Tara M. Stringfellow
2023 Women’s Prize for Fiction

Memphis

a vivid Southern debut paying tribute to an indelible family of females, longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023

By: Tara M. Stringfellow

Paperback | 7 April 2022 | Edition Number 1

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Joan can't change her family's past.
But she can create her future.


Joan was only a child the last time she visited Memphis. She doesn't remember the bustle of Beale Street on a summer's night. She doesn't know she's as likely to hear a gunshot ring out as the sound of children playing. How the smell of honeysuckle is almost overwhelming as she climbs the porch steps to the house where her mother grew up. But when the front door opens, she does remember Derek.

This house full of history is home to the women of the North family. They are no strangers to adversity; resilience runs in their blood. Fifty years ago, Hazel's husband was lynched by his all-white police squad, yet she made a life for herself and her daughters in the majestic house he built for them. August lives there still, running a salon where the neighbourhood women gather. And now this house is the only place Joan has left. It is in sketching portraits of the women in her life, her aunt and her mother, the women who come to have their hair done, the women who come to chat and gossip, that Joan begins laughing again, begins living.

Memphis is a celebration of the enduring strength of female bonds, of what we pass down, from mother to daughter. Epic in scope yet intimate in detail, it is a vivid portrait of three generations of a Southern black family, as well as an ode to the city they call home.

About the Author

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, D.C., she moved back home to Memphis, where she sits on her porch swing with her hound, Huckleberry, every evening, listening to records and chatting with neighbours.
Industry Reviews
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

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 - Jacqueline Woodson, bestselling author of Red at the Bone

An evocative, compelling tale that mines the depths of collective Black pain to arrive at something that might be, for once, Black healing . . . 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. - Robert Jones, Jr., New York Times bestselling author of The Prophets

Black American literature at its finest . . . a symphony of stories - Irish Independent

A stunning debut, a deeply affecting portrait of familial bonds. Rich with indelible black women and Southern charm - Irenosen Okojie

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

"A rhapsodic hymn to Black women." - The New York Times Book Review

This poetic, multigenerational story is set in the ancestral Memphis home a mother and her daughters flee to to escape the father's violence. Spanning 70 years, and told through a variety of voices, this powerful debut novel encompasses race, class, and the legacy of trauma - Oprah Daily Most Anticipated

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