From Powells.com
A selection of pivotal works by Indigenous authors.
Synopses & Reviews
A family saga: four generations of mixed-race African American, Native American, and Irish women experience intergenerational trauma as well as the healing brought by nature and music, leading to triumphant resilience.
Mostly White begins in 1890 when Emma, a mixed-race Native American and African American girl, is beaten by nuns and confined in a closet for speaking her language at an Indian Residential school in Maine. From there, a tale that spans four generations of women unfolds. Emma's descendants suffer the effects of trauma, poverty, and abuse while fighting to form their own identities and honor the call of their ancestors.
Review
"In a world clamoring for diverse voices and characters in whom readers can see themselves, as well as learning about people different from themselves, Alison Hart's Mostly White is a beacon. Through the story of four generations of women, from a mixed-race Native and African American family, our eyes and hearts are opened to a world we may not know, but should." Andrew Weiner, Abrams Books
Review
"Explores intergenerational trauma and power as these women survive and thrive, rising above poverty, racism and abuse through their connection with community, music, their ancestors and the power of nature." EAST BAY TIMES
Review
"So compelling it gave me goosebumps from the very first pages." ISABEL ALLENDE, National Book Award-winning author of In the Midst of Winter and The House of Spirits
Synopsis
"So compelling it gave me goosebumps from the very first pages."
--ISABEL ALLENDE A family saga: four generations of mixed-race African American, Native American, and Irish women experience intergenerational trauma as well as the healing brought by nature and music, leading to triumphant resilience. Mostly White begins in 1890 when Emma, a mixed-race Native American and African American girl, is beaten by nuns and confined in a closet for speaking her language at an Indian Residential school in Maine. From there, a tale that spans four generations of women unfolds. Emma's descendants suffer the effects of trauma, poverty, and abuse while fighting to form their own identities and honor the call of their ancestors.
ALISON HART studied theater at New York University and later found her voice as a writer. She identifies herself as a mixed-race African American, Passamaquoddy Native American, Irish, Scottish, and English woman of color. Her poetry collection Temp Words was published by Cosmo Press in 2015, and her poems appear in Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2016) and elsewhere. Hart lives in Alameda, California.
About the Author
Alison Hart studied theater at New York University and later found her voice as a writer. She identifies herself as a mixed-race African American, Passamaquoddy Native American, Irish, Scottish, and English woman of color. Her poetry collection Temp Words was published by Cosmo Press in 2015, and her poems appear in Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2016) and elsewhere. Hart lives in Alameda, California.
Alison Hart on PowellsBooks.Blog
My mother never talked about her past. Yet I felt her pain and the sadness that she held in tight, which crept out in metaphors in her richly crafted poems....
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