Memphis

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES DEBUT FICTION PRIZE

Fleeing her husband's explosive temper, Miriam has brought her two daughters, Joan and Mya, back to Memphis, to the home her father built in the '40s.

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 or the smell of honeysuckle as she climbs the porch steps to her aunt's house. But when the front door opens, she does remember her cousin Derek.

As Joan learns more about her family's past, she discovers she's not the only North woman to have experienced great hurt. But she also sees their resilience and courage, how these extraordinary women fry green tomatoes and braid hair and sing all the while.

Memphis has changed since Joan's grandparents lived there. Streets once filled with the beat of protest and blues, now echo with gunfire. But Joan still looks for the beauty in this city, in its people - and she realizes that to make a future for herself, she must find her own song to sing.

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.