Gloria Naylor – författare

With a new introduction by Robert Jones, Jr, author of The New York Times bestselling novel, The Prophets'Gloria Naylor is a brilliant word-worker and a breathtaking story-teller. Mama Day is her masterpiece' Tayari Jones'A sweeping, ambitious, gorgeous novel - takes you by the throat and refuses to let go. Mama Day is a stone-cold masterpiece' Carmen Maria MachadoBetween Georgia and South Carolina is an island you won't find on any map. Only a single wooden bridge connects it to the world. In Willow Springs people still honour their ancestors, who arrived as slaves back in the time of Sapphira Wade, the 'true conjure woman' who set them all free.It is said that Mama Day has inherited Sapphira's power. She is a healer whose hands have delivered almost every soul on the island - and rumour has it that she can summon lightning storms. When Cocoa, her great-niece, returns to Willow Springs from New York, she brings her husband, George. But can Mama Day save them from the island's darker powers?Mama Day is a powerful story of love, belonging, magic and inheritance.'One of my favourite novels of all time. Naylor's skill in weaving together culture, heartbreak, joy, magic, terror, laughter, pain, and love - which is to say, life - is extraordinary' Robert Jones, Jr'Gloria Naylor's exceptional books are deftly acute examinations of the beauty and tenacity of Black lives' Irenosen Okojie

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY IRENOSEN OKOJIEBy the bestselling author of The Women of Brewster PlaceWith its showcase homes and manicured lawns, an address in the wealthy Black American neighbourhood of Linden Hills is a symbol that you've made it. The ultimate achievement: a home on prestigious Tupelo Drive. Making your way downhill to Tupelo is irrefutable proof of your worth. But the farther down the hill you go, the emptier you become and the price of success may well be a journey down to the lowest circle of hell.As two young friends - poets from the wrong side of town - look to earn extra money doing odd jobs in Linden Hills, their warmth, humour and disbelief exposes the hypocrisy of life on the 'right' side of the tracks. Exploring a microcosm of race and social class, Gloria Naylor reveals the true cost of success for the lost souls of Linden Hills.'Gloria Naylor is gifted with timeless wisdom, bottomless empathy, and limitless language. Her novels will shine a light for readers and writers for generations to come' Tayari Jones, author of AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE'Naylor's skill in weaving together culture, heartbreak, joy, magic, terror, laughter, pain, and love - which is to say, life - is extraordinary' Robert Jones, Jr., author of THE PROPHETS'Naylor has produced an ambitious novel that aspires to be nothing less than a contemporary reading of Dante's 'Inferno' . . . One is quickly beguiled . . . so gracefully does Naylor fuse together the epic and the naturalistic, the magical and the real' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY IRENOSEN OKOJIE'Gloria Naylor is gifted with timeless wisdom, bottomless empathy, and limitless language. Her novels will shine a light for readers and writers for generations to come' TAYARI JONES'A virtuoso orchestration of survival, suffering, courage and humour' New York Times Book ReviewIn postwar Brooklyn, on a quiet backstreet, there's a little place that draws people from all over - not for the food, and definitely not for the coffee. An in-between place that's only there when you need it, Bailey's Cafe is a crossroads where patrons stay for a while before making a choice: Move on or check out?There's Sadie, the ladylike alcoholic with a mania for cleanliness; Sweet Esther, who caters to unspeakable appetites in a nearby 'boarding house', taking payment only in white roses; and Mariam, the Ethiopian child who may be the bearer of a miracle. Naylor's breath-taking novel is an enthralling fusion of lives whose courage, mystery and humour suggest nothing less than a blues tapestry of America.'Gloria Naylor was one of the greatest novelists who ever lived. She holds a hallowed place in the canon, and also in hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits' ROBERT JONES, Jr., author of The New York Times bestselling novel, The Prophets

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY IRENOSEN OKOJIE'Gloria Naylor is gifted with timeless wisdom, bottomless empathy, and limitless language. Her novels will shine a light for readers and writers for generations to come' TAYARI JONES'A virtuoso orchestration of survival, suffering, courage and humour' New York Times Book ReviewIn postwar Brooklyn, on a quiet backstreet, there's a little place that draws people from all over - not for the food, and definitely not for the coffee. An in-between place that's only there when you need it, Bailey's Cafe is a crossroads where patrons stay for a while before making a choice: Move on or check out?There's Sadie, the ladylike alcoholic with a mania for cleanliness; Sweet Esther, who caters to unspeakable appetites in a nearby 'boarding house', taking payment only in white roses; and Mariam, the Ethiopian child who may be the bearer of a miracle. Naylor's breath-taking novel is an enthralling fusion of lives whose courage, mystery and humour suggest nothing less than a blues tapestry of America.'Gloria Naylor was one of the greatest novelists who ever lived. She holds a hallowed place in the canon, and also in hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits' ROBERT JONES, Jr., author of The New York Times bestselling novel, The Prophets

The National Book Award-winning novel that launched the brilliant career of Gloria Naylor (1950-2016)In her heralded first novel, Gloria Naylor weaves together the stories of seven women living in Brewster Place, a bleak-inner city sanctuary, creative a powerful, moving portrait of the strengths, struggles, and hopes of black women in America. Vulnerable and resilient, openhanded and openhearted, these women forge their lives in a place that in turn threatens and protects - a common prison and a shared home. Adapted into a 1989 ABC miniseries starring Oprah Winfrey, The Women of Brewster Place is a contemporary classic - and a touching and unforgettable read."[A]  shrewd and lyrical portrayal of many of the realities of black life . . . Miss Naylor bravely risks sentimentality and melodrama to write her compassion and outrage large, and she pulls it off triumphantly." -The New York Times Book ReviewFrom the Trade Paperback edition.

Linden Hills – wer hier lebt, hat es geschafft. Elegante Häuser und perfekt gepflegte Rasen säumen die acht Ringstraßen, die sich den Hügel hinabwinden. Lester und sein bester Kumpel Willie, beide verflucht knapp bei Kasse, verabscheuen die noble Klientel, reinigen aber für ein paar Dollar ihre Auffahrten und Pools. Vorbei an glänzenden Fassaden und übertünchten Rissen arbeiten sie sich Straße für Straße den Hügel hinunter. Bis ganz nach unten, wo Luther Nedeed, das Epizentrum der Macht, ein finsteres Geheimnis hütet. Gloria Naylor enthüllt, wie die Menschen für den American Dream mit ihrer Seele bezahlen und wie das funkelnde Versprechen eines besseren Lebens in schneidende Niedertracht zersplittert.

Tropfende Rohre, quietschende Türen, kaputte Aufzüge. Brewster Place, das ist die Straße mit den Schlaglöchern und der Mauer am Ende, hinter der man die schicken Gegenden der amerikanischen Großstadt nur erahnen kann. Mattie Michael und Etta Johnson wohnen schon ewig hier, und sie wissen absolut alles, was in den Häusern der anderen so passiert. Kiswana Browne nervt mit ihren Black-Power-Parolen; Cora Lee kriegt in der Hoffnung auf morgen immer mehr Kinder, und die zwei Neuen irritieren die anderen mit ihren verstohlenen Zärtlichkeiten. Die Gerüchteküche brodelt und treibt den Geruch von Begierde und Fürsorge, von Hoffnung und Verzweiflung durch die Straße. Gloria Naylor erzählt furios und einfühlsam von diesen Frauen und mit ihnen von den schwarzen Frauen Amerikas.

Die Insel Willow Springs vor der amerikanischen Südstaatenküste ist ein wundersamer Ort. Geheimnisse steigen von der Veranda in den Nachthimmel auf, Hoffnungen weben sich ins Louisiana-Moos, Befürchtungen wispern durch die Bäume. Jedes Jahr kehrt Cocoa aus dem hektischen New York für einige Wochen hierher zurück, zu ihrer Tante und ihrer Großtante, der ebenso starrköpfigen wie warmherzigen Mama Day. Doch als sie in einem Sommer ihren Freund George mitbringt, gerät das Leben auf der Insel aus dem Gleichgewicht. George und Cocoa beginnen zu begreifen, dass Willow Springs einer eigenen Wahrheit folgt – einer Wahrheit, die für sie beide zur Bedrohung wird. Mit magischer Erzählkraft beschwört Gloria Naylor opulente Bilder und reißt uns mit in einen Wirbel aus Liebe, Wahn und Hoffnungen.

En una novela resonante que toma como modelo el «Infierno» de Dante, Gloria Naylor revela la verdad sobre el sueño americano: que el precio del éxito bien puede ser un viaje hasta el círculo más bajo del infierno.Con sus casas de exhibición, elegantes jardines y otros alardes de riqueza, Linden Hills no se diferencia de otras comunidades negras adineradas. Pero residir en esta comunidad es una prueba indiscutible de haberlo «logrado». Aunque nadie conoce cuáles son las cualificaciones exactas, todos saben que solo determinadas personas pueden vivir allí y que quieren estar entre ellas.