Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
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Author: Yaa Gyasi Publisher: New York: Alfred A. Knopf 2016 |
Ultimately tracing over three hundred years of history, this novel follows half-sisters Effia and Esi: born into two different villages in Ghana in the 1700s, Effia is married to an Englishman, and lives in comfort in Cape Coast Castle, while (unknown to her) Esi is imprisoned in the castle's dungeons - enslaved - waiting to be shipped to America.
Homegoing blends the two narratives: of Effia's descendants in Ghana, enduring centuries of colonisation and conflict, and of Esi and her family on the plantations of the South, through the Civil War, and into the jazz clubs of Harlem, and into the modern era.
An engaging and emotional character-driven saga, Homegoing is a visceral examination of history, memory, and intergenerational experience that has shaped modern America.
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