Happiest of Pub Days to Bernice L. McFadden! The Brooklyn native’s 10th book [under the name her mama gave her], ☛PRAISE SONG FOR THE BUTTERFLIES [pub: Akashic Books] drops today. McFadden has written five additional novels under the pseudonym Geneva Holliday. That’s 15 novels in 18 years! Go sis! Go! Catch her in conversation along with Terry McMillan at the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 16, 2018. Click here for more information.
Per Akashic Books:
Abeo Kata lives a comfortable, happy life in West Africa as the privileged nine-year-old daughter of a government employee and stay-at-home mother. But when the Katas’ idyllic lifestyle takes a turn for the worse, Abeo’s father, following his mother’s advice, places the girl in a religious shrine, hoping that the sacrifice of his daughter will serve as atonement for the crimes of his ancestors. Unspeakable acts befall Abeo for the fifteen years she is held in the shrine. When she is finally rescued, broken and battered, she must struggle to overcome her past, endure the revelation of family secrets, and learn to trust and love again.
In the tradition of Chris Cleave’s Little Bee, this novel is a contemporary story that offers an eye-opening account of the practice of ritual servitude in West Africa. Spanning decades and two continents, Praise Song for the Butterflies will break you heart and then heal it.
What do you think?
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