Family

A Novel

By: J. California Cooper

Narrated by: Janina Edwards

In this beautifully textured first novel by the author of the acclaimed short story collection Homemade Love, the history of one slave family becomes symbolic for all slaves and slaveholders.

Family is a stunning, often painfully graphic re-creation of the realities of slavery: black women raped by white masters; black children sold to sustain failing plantations - or to satisfy the whims of a petulant mistress; strong men humiliated, whipped, and beaten because of the color of their skin. But it is also the triumphant story of a mother whose loving spirit transcends the barriers of death and time, allowing her to watch over her children and her children’s children.

In simple, hauntingly poetic language, the slave Clora, who killed herself to escape an unbearable existence, recounts the “grief and misery that is soul and core of the life of a slave” and follows her children as they experience the joys and challenges of emancipation, create new lives for themselves and their families in the postwar South, in northern cities, and abroad, and hold fast to their dreams and their faith as they confront the fear and hatred that permeates their world.

©1991 J. California Cooper (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Hanks

this story was excellent! I enjoyed it from beginning to end...looking forward to this authors next title

From the heart and soul of love

This is the best depiction of the heart, soul, feelings and fears of a black enslaved to freedom. This share how the black population has been muddled enough for blacks to pass for white.

Interesting

This book was intriguing. I enjoyed it. I appreciate the perseverance of the characters. Thank you!

Everything!

Facebook was magnificent heart fail, and informative I love this book. I’ve read it when I was in my 20s and now I’m in my 60s and to listen to the narrative was magnificent.

Love this novel!

Love this novel! J. California Cooper was a gifted storyteller. The narrator did the book justice.