Ayana Mathis – författare

A NEW EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING NOVELAn Oprah's Book Club Pick'Remarkable' Sunday Times'Ms. Mathis has a gift for imbuing her characters' stories with an epic dimension that recalls Toni Morrison's writing' New York Times'Vibrant and compassionate . . . a work of great humanity' Marilynne Robinson1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia, hoping for a better life. When Hattie marries and gives birth to her children, she raises them with grit and mettle, preparing them for a world that will challenge and wound them. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie tells the story of a mother's monumental courage, the resilience of human spirit and the myth of the American dream.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'I can’t remember when I read anything that moved me quite this way, besides the work of Toni Morrison.’ Oprah Winfrey'Mathis traces the fates of Hattie’s 12 children and grandchildren over the course of the 20th century . . . [it] is remarkable.' Sunday Times'Ms. Mathis has a gift for imbuing her characters’ stories with an epic dimension that recalls Toni Morrison’s writing.' New York TimesFifteen years old and blazing with the hope of a better life, Hattie Shepherd fled the horror of the American South on a dawn train bound for Philadelphia.Hattie’s is a tale of strength, of resilience and heartbreak that spans six decades. Her American dream is shattered time and again: a husband who lies and cheats and nine children raised in a cramped little house that was only ever supposed to be temporary. She keeps the children alive with sheer will and not an ounce of the affection they crave. She knows they don’t think her a kind woman — but how could they understand that all the love she had was used up in feeding them and clothing them. How do you prepare your children for a world you know is cruel? The lives of this unforgettable family form a searing portrait of twentieth century America. From the revivalist tents of Alabama to Vietnam, to the black middle-class enclave in the heart of the city, to a filthy bar in the ghetto, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie is an extraordinary, distinctive novel about the guilt, sacrifice, responsibility and heartbreak that are an intrinsic part of ferocious love.

From the best-selling author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, a searing multi-generational novelset in the 1980s in racially and politically turbulent Philadelphia and in the tiny town of Bonaparte, Alabamaabout a mother fighting for her sanity and survival"[A] powerful book. Marilynne Robinson, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Gilead  "Emotionally propulsive" Oprah Daily "Showcases Ayana Mathis's grace on the page, as writer, as storyteller. A book to be read and re-read."  Jesmyn Ward, author of Let Us DescendFrom the moment Ava Carson and her ten-year-old son, Toussaint, arrive at the Glenn Avenue family shelter in Philadelphia 1985, Ava is already plotting a way out. She is repulsed by the shelter's squalid conditions: their cockroach-infested room, the barely edible food, and the shifty night security guard. She is determined to rescue her son from the perils and indignities of that place, and to save herself from the complicated past that led them there.Ava has been estranged from her own mother, Dutchess, since she left her Alabama home as a young woman barely out of her teens. Despite their estrangement and the thousand miles between them, mother and daughter are deeply entwined, but Ava can't forgive her sharp-tounged, larger than life mother whose intractability and bouts of debilitating despair brought young Ava to the outer reaches of neglect and hunger.Ava wants to love her son differently, better. But when Toussaints father, Cass, reappears, she is swept off course by his charisma, and the intoxicating power of his radical vision to destroy systems of racial injustice and bring about a bold new way of communal living. Meanwhile, in Alabama, Dutchess struggles to keep Bonaparte, once a beacon of Black freedom and self-determination, in the hands of its last five Black residentsfamilies whose lives have been rooted in this stretch of land for generationsand away from rapidly encroaching white developers. She fights against the erasure of Bonaparte's venerable history and the loss of the land itself, which she has so arduously preserved as Ava's inheritance.As Ava becomes more enmeshed with Cass, Toussaint senses the danger simmering all around himhis well-intentioned but erratic mother; the intense, volatile figure of his father who drives his fledgling Philadelphia community toward ever increasing violence and instability. He begins to dream of Dutchess and Bonaparte, his home and birthright, if only he can find his way there. Brilliant, explosive, vitally important new work from one of Americas most fiercely talented storytellers.

‘[A] powerful book’ Marilynne Robinson‘A book to be read and re-read’ Jesmyn Ward‘Poetic and fierce’ Yiyun LiFrom the moment Ava Carson and her ten-year-old son, Toussaint, arrive at the Glenn Avenue family shelter in Philadelphia in 1985, Ava is already plotting a way out. Estranged from her own mother, Dutchess, and their home in Bonaparte, Alabama, Ava is determined to give her sonthe chance of a better life.But when Toussaint’s father, Cass, reappears, Ava is swept off course by his charisma and his bold vision for racial justice. As Ava becomes more enmeshed with Cass and the radical group he has created, Toussaint begins to sense the danger and threat of violence simmering all around him. He begins to dream of Dutchess and Bonaparte, his home and birthright, but can he find his way there?The Unsettled is an explosive and vital story of belonging, legacy and survival from one of America’s most talented storytellers.‘I can’t remember when I read anything that moved me quite this way, besides the work of Toni Morrison’ Oprah Winfrey on The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

‘A powerful book’ Marilynne Robinson‘A book to be read and re-read’ Jesmyn Ward‘Poetic and fierce’ Yiyun LiFrom the moment Ava Carson and her ten-year-old son, Toussaint, arrive at the Glenn Avenue family shelter in Philadelphia in 1985, Ava is already plotting a way out. Estranged from her own mother, Dutchess, and their home in Bonaparte, Alabama, Ava is determined to give her sonthe chance of a better life.But when Toussaint’s father, Cass, reappears, Ava is swept off course by his charisma and his bold vision for racial justice. As Ava becomes more enmeshed with Cass and the radical group he has created, Toussaint begins to sense the danger and threat of violence simmering all around him. He begins to dream of Dutchess and Bonaparte, his home and birthright, but can he find his way there?The Unsettled is an explosive and vital story of belonging, legacy and survival from one of America’s most talented storytellers.‘I can’t remember when I read anything that moved me quite this way, besides the work of Toni Morrison’ Oprah Winfrey on The Twelve Tribes of Hattie

New York Times-BestsellerAls Hattie ihre erstgeborenen Zwillinge Philadelphia und Jubilee taufte, war das Ausdruck einer großen Hoffnung. Hatte der Norden, die »Wiege der Freiheit«, den Schwarzen, die aus dem Süden kamen, nicht Gleichheit und Wohlstand versprochen? Und schmeckte das Leben in dem kleinen Haus an der Wayne Street nicht nach Zukunft? Hattie wird noch viele weitere Kinder bekommen, aber kaum etwas von ihren Hoffnungen wird sich erfüllen. Schmerz über Versagen und Schicksalsschläge überschattet Hatties Dasein. Es ist ein Schmerz, der sich fortschreiben wird in die nächste Generation.Doch diese Saga um eine außergewöhnliche Frau und ihre zwölf Kinder, die als Geschichte der Great Migration beginnt und sich zum Tableau mit zwölf Einzelporträts über das ganze zwanzigste Jahrhundert weitet, ist trotz Scheitern und Enttäuschung ein vitales Epos – voller Lebenskraft und verhaltener Zärtlichkeit, voller Mut und Entschlossenheit im Kampf gegen Bitterkeit.

Gibt es das, einen Ort der Freiheit auf dieser Welt? Und welchen Preis zahlen wir dafür?»Mathis vermag es, den Geschichten ihrer Figuren eine epische Tiefe zu geben, die an Toni Morrison erinnert.« The New York TimesBonaparte, Alabama, 1985. Die Ufer des sterbenden Dorfes versinken im Nebel, eine Baufirma dringt auf das Land vor. Verbissen kämpft Dutchess Carson um den letzten Grundbesitz der einst blühenden schwarzen Genossenschaft. Nicht zuletzt für ihre erwachsene Tochter Ava, die allerdings von ihr und dem Erbe nichts wissen will. In Philadelphia ist diese währenddessen ganz unten angekommen, lebt im Obdachlosenheim. Als sie ihrer großen Liebe, dem ehemaligen Black Panther Cass, nach Jahren wieder begegnet, verfällt sie ihm erneut – und gerät in den Bann der radikalen Kommune Ark, die sich schwarzer Selbstbestimmung verschrieben hat. Und ihr elfjähriger Sohn Toussaint will raus, zu der Großmutter, die von ihm nichts weiß. Wenn er es nur dorthin schafft ...Nach ihrem gefeierten Debüt ›Zwölf Leben‹ ist Ayana Mathis erneut ein großer Wurf gelungen:  Flirrend lebendig, rau und einfühlsam erzählt Ayana Mathis von der Zerrissenheit und den Wunden einer schwarzen Familie, von einem bedrohten Vermächtnis und von Utopien auf dem Trümmerhaufen der Geschichte. Best Book of theYear u.a. in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The New York Times und Publishers Weekly»Eine der herausragendsten Stimmen der amerikanischen Gegenwartsliteratur.« Yiyun Li»Ein kostbarer Roman, so universal wie brisant. Man möchte ihn lesen und immer wieder lesen.« Jesmyn Ward