Homegoing

435 pages

English language

Published Feb. 1, 2017 by Charnwood.

ISBN:
978-1-4448-3425-3
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OCLC Number:
1083737557

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5 stars (1 review)

In eighteenth-century Ghana, two half-sisters, Effia and Esi, are born into different villages. Effia is eventually married to an Englishman and lives in comfort in the palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle. Unbeknownst to her, ESi is imprisoned beneath in the castle's dungeons, sold with thousands of others into the Gold Coast's booming slave trade, and then shipped off to America, where her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. The consequences of the sisters' fates reverberate through the generations that follow, From the Gold Coast to the cotton-picking plantations of Mississippi; from the missionary schools of Ghana to the dive bars of Harlem, spanning three continents and seven generations, this is the story of how the memory of captivity came to be inscribed in the soul of a nation. --back cover

22 editions

Stimulating and Entrancing

5 stars

This book gripped me immediately. A wonderfully written dive into how the slave trade effected and shaped not just the Americas, but also the land the slaves came from. I was enamored in how each generation built on the tragedy and triumphs of the previous generations. I also honestly appreciated that the book wasn't the equivalent of trauma porn, with moments of joy and achievement throughout.

I remember I finished this book on my lunch break at work, and I literally gasped in joy at the ending, as I felt it was the best way that things could have ended.

This book brought me so much joy, as well as great insight into the Black experience through the years and how each historical era changed things.

I've been verbally recommending this book to everyone, and now I'll do it online too.