Mama Day

Introduced by Robert Jones, Jr ‘Gloria Naylor is a brilliant word-worker and a breathtaking story-teller. Mama Day is her masterpiece‘ TAYARI JONES Between Georgia and South Carolina is an island you won‘t find on any map. Only a 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 Day, 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 new 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