One Dark Body
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A haunting tale of family secrets, ancestral connections, and the search for healing in a small Washington town.
In Pearl, Washington, twelve-year-old Raisin, abandoned at birth, is raised alongside other unwanted children. Her life is upended when her mother, Nola, returns, seeking to reclaim her and confront the ghosts of their shared past.
As they grapple with the spirit of Raisin's father and the rumors surrounding Nola's mother, they must confront the town's shamanic figure, Blue, and the fourteen-year-old Sin-Sin, who is being initiated into manhood. This lyrical novel explores themes of identity, community, and the power of African cultural traditions to heal even the deepest wounds. Perfect for readers of African American literary fiction and coming-of-age stories.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Called ``Raisin'' because her mother's botched abortion attempt left her skin marked and deformed by wrinkles, 12-year-old Septeema Barnett narrates most of this elegaic and lyrical first novel. Raisin is raised by the midwife in the African American community of Pearl, Wash. (also the setting for Sherman's short-story collection, Killing Color ) , and at first she wants no part of her mother, Nola, who returns from Chicago to reclaim her daughter and start a new life. Raisin finds solace in dreams and in communion with ancestral spirits who speak to her from the earth. Among these are the spirit-women who usher her into womanhood, the Night People, ghosts of slaves who roam the woods near Pearl and protect their descendants, and the soul of her father, El, a suicide who refused the only work allowed black men in that town--coal-mining--and buried himself in a shallow grave before Raisin's birth. Sherman also explores Nola's specters: her grief over El's death, her memories of a violent mother and her shame at deserting her child. The novel offers a convincing portrayal of the spirituality that shelters these African Americans against racist and sexist oppression. Engaging characters and lilting prose illuminate this mythopoeic story.
