GAYL JONES

A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers Tayari Jones, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGEGayl Jones is a literary legend - Yara Rodrigues Fowler, author of THERE ARE MORE THINGSHer prose is intricate, mesmerizing, and endlessly inventive and subversive Deesha Philyaw, author of THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIESGayl Joness long career began with her blistering 1975 debut, Corregidora, which was edited by Toni Morrison, and she is increasingly recognised as one of the great literary writers of the twentieth century. In this new collection of short fiction, Joness unique talents are displayed in a range of settings and styles, from the hyper-realist to the mystical, in novella-length stories, intricate multi-part narratives and in compelling fragments. Endlessly inventive, challenging and surprising, Jones writes about our diverse world. Her characters are spies, photographers, baristas, cartoonists and revolutionaries; her settings are historical and contemporary, in Europe and the Americas. With sharp observation, wit and poignancy, Jones explores complex identities and unorthodox longings. Joness writing powerfully blends narrative and lyricism . . . Her imagination seems to thrive on outstripping ones expectations Margo JeffersonEvery Jones publication is a major event, but this one is particularly precious . . . Joness settings, which span time and geography, vary as much as the identities of her protagonists, which include women and men, Black, brown, and Indigenous people, artists and spies. The common threads are creativity and devastating insightOprah Daily, The Books We Cant Wait to Read in 2023

An exciting new novel from a major voice in American literature - exploring artists in exile, dangerous relationships and the demands of creativity.

An exciting new novel from a major voice in American literature - exploring artists in exile, dangerous relationships and the demands of creativity.

THE FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARDA literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers TAYARI JONESThe novels richness lies in its entertaining meandering, and the vitality of its spoken rhythms MAYA JAGGI, GUARDIANA moving affirmation of forgiveness and trust . . . The Healing should be cause for hope, sustenance and even celebration VALERIE SAYERS, NEW YORK TIMES Harlan Jane Eagleton is a faith healer, travelling to small towns, converting sceptics, restoring minds and bodies. But before that she was a rock stars manager and race-track gambler. Shes had a fling with her rock stars ex-husband and along the way shes somehow lost her own husband - a medical anthropologist now travelling with a medicine woman in Africa. Harlan tells her story from the end backwards, drawing us ever deeper into her world and the mystery at the heart of her tale - the story of her first healing.

By the acclaimed writer of Palmares and Corregidora.When the Portuguese attack Palmares, Brazils last fugitive slave enclave, Almeyda and her husband are separated as they flee from the destruction. Amid the flight and re-enslavement of the inhabitants, their narrative emerges.Two powerful, epic poems give voice to the lovers: Almeydas passionate lament for Anninho, whom she believes has been killed, is combined with his response as he searches for her. Their story is one of longing - for each other, for freedom - and for revolution.I want to stay here, Anninho.There wont be any wayyou can stay here.When they catch us,theyll take you back.The men they kill,the women they take back.

No novel about any black woman could ever be the same after this' TONI MORRISON'Corregidora is the most brutally honest and painful revelation of what has occurred, and is occurring, in the souls of Black men and women' JAMES BALDWINUpon publication in 1975, Corregidora was hailed as a masterpiece, winning acclaim from writers including James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and John Updike. Exploring themes such as race, sexuality and the long repercussions of slavery, this powerful novel paved the way for Beloved and The Colour Purple. Now, this lost classic is published for a new generation of readers.Blues singer Ursa is consumed by her hatred of Corregidora, the nineteenth-century slave master who fathered both her mother and grandmother. Charged with 'making generations' to bear witness to the abuse embodied in the family name, Ursa Corregidora finds herself unable to keep alive this legacy when she is made sterile in a violent fight with her husband. Haunted by the ghosts of a Brazilian plantation, pained by a present of lovelessness and despair, Ursa slowly and firmly strikes her own terms with womanhood.AS HEARD ON THE BACKLISTED PODCAST'A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers' TAYARI JONES, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGEAlso new to the VMC list: Eva's Man and The Healing by Gayl Jones. 'An American writer with a powerful sense of vital inheritance, of history in the blood' JOHN UPDIKE'Gayl Jones's first novel, Corregidora (1975), was both shocking and ground-breaking in its probing of the psychological legacy of slavery and sexual ownership through the life of a Kentucky blues singer ... it predated Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Toni Morrison's Beloved, revealing an unfinished emancipation and the power of historical memory to shape lives.It also marked a shift in African-American literature that made women, and relationships between black people, central' MAYA JAGGI, Guardian'Corregidora's survey of trauma and overcoming has become even better and more relevant with the passage of time. It remains an indispensable point of entry into the tradition of African American writing that Gayl Jones reshaped and enriched' PAUL GILROY

No novel about any Black woman could ever be the same after this TONI MORRISONI dreamed with my eyes open. All the Corregidora women with narrow waists and high cheekbones and wide hips. All the Corregidora women dancing. Blues singer Ursa is consumed by her hatred of Corregidora, the nineteenth-century slave master who fathered both her mother and grandmother. Charged with making generations to bear witness to this legacy of abuse, Ursa must confront her family history after a fight with her husband leaves her unable to have children. Haunted by the ghosts of a Brazilian plantation, pained by the fractured relationships of her present, she slowly and firmly strikes her own terms with womanhood.Upon publication in 1975, Corregidora was hailed as a masterpiece, winning acclaim from writers including James Baldwin, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and John Updike. Exploring themes such as race, sexuality and the long repercussions of slavery, this powerful novel paved the way for Beloved and The Colour Purple.Corregidora is the most brutally honest and painful revelation of what has occurred, and is occurring, in the souls of Black men and women JAMES BALDWINA literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers TAYARI JONESAn American writer with a powerful sense of vital inheritance, of history in the blood JOHN UPDIKE, NEW YORKER

Joness great achievement is to reckon with both history and interiority, and to collapse the boundary between them.Anna Wiener, The New YorkerFrom the highly acclaimed author of Corregidora and The Healingtwo epic poems, the love songs of fugitive slaves, set in 17th-century Brazil; continuing the unforgettable journey told in Gayl Joness masterwork, Palmares (2021)Gayl Jones, the novelist Toni Morrison discovered decades ago and Tayari Jones recently called her favorite writer, offers 2 books in one with this volume of poetry. Jones renders the saga of Palmares, a foundational tale in the annals of colonial terrorism and Black resistance, in verse, told in the voices of the characters in her epic novel Palmares.In the late 17th century, the fugitive slave enclave of Palmares was destroyed by Portuguese colonists. Amid the flight and re-enslavement of Palmaress inhabitants emerges the love story of Almeyda and Anninho. In Song for Anninho, Almeyda moves between a dark present, in which she is once again enslaved and abused by a terrible captor, and memories of her lover, Anninho, whom she believes to have been killed. Song for Almeyda, released now for the first time, is told in the voices of Anninho and his fellow warriors.Fans of Corregidora (one of the New Yorkers Best Books We Read in 2020 picks), which tracked the legacy of enslavement, and Palmares will especially appreciate these verses. Brimming with intimacy, history, and revolution, the poems collected serve as a declaration of decolonial love.

Ambientado entre o fim dos anos 1940 e 1970, Corregidora conta a história da personagem Ursa Corregidora, mulher negra, cantora de blues, no Kentucky. Ao mesmo tempo que busca conquistar espaços para desenvolver sua carreira e viver de sua arte, Ursa atravessa relacionamentos tumultuados e ocasionalmente violentos. Em uma das agresses sofridas, passa por uma histerectomia e precisa lidar com a frustraço e a angustia por no ser capaz de atender ao apelo de suas antepassadas para "dar a luz novas geraçes", o que seria fundamental para continuar a tradiço oral que evitaria o apagamento da realidade da vida sob a escravatura sua familia leva o nome do proprietario de escravos portugues que foi genitor tanto da me como da avo de Ursa, uma prova irrefutavel das terriveis violencias sofridas por mulheres escravizadas. Contar historias, portanto, se torna a sua grande misso, e e nessa pratica que ela busca superar seus traumas geracionais e as tristezas do presente.Descoberto e editado por Toni Morrison, Corregidora e o romance de estreia de Gayl Jones, publicado em 1975. Entre os inumeros meritos da autora nessa obra impactante esto o dominio da linguagem, que aproxima o leitor das vivencias e da interioridade dos personagens, e a capacidade de registrar a um so tempo dilemas pessoais que traduzem as dores de uma populaço inteira.

Gayl Joness special gift is to shape experience and make it seem unshaped. -John Alfred Avant, The New RepublicGayl Joness first novel, Corregidora, won her recognition as a writer whose work was gripping, subtle, and sure. It was praised, along with her second novel, Evas Man, by writers and critics from all over the nation: John Updike, Maya Angelou, John Edgar Wideman, and James Baldwin, to name a few. The publication of The Healing, her first novel in over twenty years, is a literary event.Harlan Jane Eagleton is a faith healer, traveling by bus to small towns, converting skeptics, restoring minds and bodies. But before that she was a minor rock stars manager, and before that a beautician. Shes had a fling with her rock stars ex-husband and an Afro-German horse dealer; along the way shes somehow lost her own husband, a medical anthropologist now traveling with a medicine woman in Africa. Harlan tells her story from the end backwards, drawing us constantly deeper into her world and the mystery at the heart of her tale-the story of her first healing.The Healing is a lyrical and at times humorous exploration of the struggle to let go of pain, anger, and even love. Slipping seamlessly back through Harlans memories in a language rich with the textured cadences of the black Southerner, Gayl Jones weaves her story to its dramatic-and unexpected-beginning.

A new edition of a National Book Award finalist follows a black faith healer whose shrewd observations about human nature are told with the rich lyricism of the oral storytelling tradition.From the acclaimed author of Corregidora, The Healing follows Harlan Jane Eagleton as she travels to small towns, converting skeptics, restoring minds, and healing bodies. But before she found her calling, Harlan had been a minor rock stars manager and, before that, a beautician. Harlan retraces her story to the beginning, when she once had a fling with the rock stars ex-husband and found herself infatuated with an Afro-German horse dealer. Along the way shes somehow lost her own husband, a medical anthropologist now traveling with a medicine woman across eastern Africa. Harlan draws us deeper into her world and the mystery at the heart of her tale: the story of her first healing.The Healing is a lyrical and at times humorous exploration of the struggle to let go of pain, anger, and even love. Slipping seamlessly back through Harlans memories in a language rich with the textured cadences of unfiltered dialogue, Gayl Jones weaves her story to its dramaticand unexpectedbeginning.

Bury those easy-to-read Black romance books. Mosquito is where African-American literature is heading as we approach the twenty-first century.--E. Ethelbert Miller, Emerge

FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDThe Birdcatcher is the new novel from a major voice in American literature, which explores artists in exile, dangerous relationships and the demands of creativity.A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers - Tayari Jones, author of An American MarriageI am living on the white-washed island of Ibiza with my friend Catherine Shuger, a sculptor who has been declared legally insane, and her husband, Ernest. Standing on the terrace, sheltered in the smell of oranges and eucalyptus, washed in sunlight, youd swear this was a paradise. But to tell the truth the place is full of dangers. You see, Catherine sometimes tries to kill her husband. It has been this way for years . . .My names Amanda Wordlaw. Wonderful name for a writer, isnt it? . . . I guess Im sort of a choice companion for the Shugers - professional watcher and listener that I am. Its like they need someone else to witness the shit, the spectacle they make of themselves.A fascinating meditation on Black female creativity from the author of Corregidora and Palmares . . . Vivid characters shimmer through the pages Suzi Feay, GUARDIAN

A literary giant TAYARI JONESA richly imaginative and moving new novel from the Pulitzer finalist and acclaimed author of CorregidoraA cook and tractor repairman, Buddy was known as Budweiser to his army pals because hes a wise guy. But underneath that surface, hes a man on a quest: looking for religion, looking for meaning, looking for love.Returning from the Second World War not to a heros welcome, but to the discrimination of the Jim Crow laws, Buddy stumbles across the Unicorn Woman, a carnival sideshow with a horn growing from her forehead, whose strange beauty he cant forget.As he drifts across the South, from Kentucky to Memphis, Buddy encounters a dazzling array of almost mythic characters: circus barkers, topiary trimmers, landladies who provide shelter and plenty of advice for their all-Black clientele, proto feminists and bigots - dreaming all the while of the unforgettable Unicorn Woman herself.With her inimitable eye for beauty, tragedy and humour, Jones offers a rich, intriguing exploration of the Black imagination in a time of frustration and hope.Her truth-telling, filled with beauty, tragedy, humour, and incisiveness, is unmatched IMANI PERRYGayl Jones is enjoying a dazzling late-career renaissance SUZI FEAY, TLSIntricate, mesmerising and endlessly inventive DEESHA PHILYAW

A literary giant, and one of my absolute favourite writers TAYARI JONES, AUTHOR OF AN AMERICAN MARRIAGEAn American writer with a powerful sense of vital inheritance, of history in the blood JOHN UPDIKE, NEW YORKEREvas silence, and her status here as legally insane, are eloquent testimony to the condition of being a woman in this mans worldKIRKUS REVIEWS Eva Medina Canada sits in her psychiatric ward, silent and unremorseful. She has murdered her lover and they want to know why. Her memories weave back and forth over encounters with the men in her life - the schoolboy who played doctors and nurses with a dirty popsicle stick; her mothers boyfriend; her cousin; her husband; a stranger on the bus. Shes been propositioned and abused for as long as she can remember.

A 2022 PULITZER PRIZE FINALISTLONGLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZEA once-in-a-lifetime work of literature, the kind that changes your understanding of the world Yara Rodriguez Fowler, GuardianAstonishingly rich in character and incident, filled with magic and mysterySunday TimesIntricate, mesmerizing and endlessly inventive and subversive Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church LadiesA story woven with extraordinary complexity, depth and skill, Robert Jones, Jr, author of The ProphetsAN EPIC TALE OF LOVE AND LIBERATION SET IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY COLONIAL BRAZILFrom plantation to plantation, Almeyda, a young slave girl, hears whispers, rumours of Palmares, a hidden settlement where fugitive slaves live free. But can this promised land exist? And what price is paid for freedom?In Palmares, Gayl Jones brings to life a world full of unforgettable characters, reimagining extraordinary historical events and combining them with mythology and magic. The result is a sweeping saga spanning a quarter of a century. Of Gayl Jones, the New Yorker noted, [Her] great achievement is to reckon with both history and interiority, and to collapse the boundary between them. Like nothing else before it, Palmares embodies this gift.

A wide-ranging collection, including two novellas and ten stories exploring complex identities, from the acclaimed author of Corregidora, The Healing, and PalmaresGayl Joness work represents a watershed in American literature. From a literary standpoint, her form is impeccable . . . and as a Black woman writer, her truth-telling, filled with beauty, tragedy, humor, and incisiveness, is unmatched.Imani Perry, author of, Looking for Lorraine and BreatheGayl Jones, who was first edited by Toni Morrison, has been described as one of the great literary writers of the 20th century and was recently a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. This new collection of short fiction is only the second in her rich career, and one that displays her strengths in the genre in many facets. Opening with two novella-length works, Butter and Sophia, this collection features Joness legendary talents in a range of settings and styles, from the hyper-realist to the mystical, in intricate multi-part stories, in more traditional forms, and even in short fragments.Her narrators are women and men, Black, Brown, Indigenous; her settings are historical and contemporary, in South America, Mexico and the US; her themes center on complex identities, unorthodox longings and aspirations. She writes about spies, photographers, playground designers, cartoonists, and baristas, about workers and revolutionaries, about environmentalism, feminism, poetry, film and love, but above all about our multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial society.

The acclaimed authors first collection of stories, reissued to coincide with the paperback publication of her second and latest, ButterGayl Joness work represents a watershed in American literature. From a literary standpoint, her form is impeccable . . . and as a Black woman writer, her truth-telling, filled with beauty, tragedy, humor, and incisiveness, is unmatched.Imani PerryGayl Jones has been described as one of the great literary writers of the 20th century and was recently a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. This collection of short fiction was her third book, originally edited and published by Toni Morrison in 1977, and is reissued now alongside her second collection, Butter, in paperback for the first time.The collection contains 12 provocative tales that explore the emotional and mental terrain of a diverse cast of characters, from the innocent to the insane. In each, Jones displays her unflinching ability to dive into the most treacherous of psyches and circumstances: the title story examines the identity and relationship conundrums of a Black man who can pass for white, earning him the name White Rat as an infant; The Women follows a girl whose mother brings a line of female lovers to live in their home; Jevata details 18-year-old Freddys relationship with the 50-year-old title character; The Coke Factory tracks the thoughts of a mentally-handicapped adolescent abandoned by his mother; and Asylum focuses on a woman having a nervous breakdown, trying to protect her dignity and her private parts as she enters an institution.In uncompromising prose, and dialect that veers from northern, educated tongues to down-home southern colloquialisms, Jones illuminates lives that society ignores, moving them to center stage.