Great will read more by Marshall ( )

Expertly written and absorbing in every way. I enjoyed the writing and the story, a memoir of a young writer's life and her affiliation with Langston Hughes, who helped her career along. Paule Marshall was an attractive, thoughtful-looking child and became a beautiful young woman with her sights set squarely on a writing career. She has collected a number of awards for her writing over her career.

Her family emigrated from Barbados, and I learned from and savored the parts where Marshall spent time there in order to write and visit her remaining family. It was a time before tall hotels hogged the best beaches and life was interesting and tranquil. She writes of Granada, where she also went to write, and of a visit to Carriacou, which found it's way into some of her later writings. Marshall haunted libraries and researched, so the information on early slavery is fascinating and sad. Her own family and other emigrants from Barbados who settled in New York formed close relationships fraught with all the variety most families experience, sometimes in humorous ways.

A refreshing read from an accomplished writer ahead of her time.

( )

Paule Marshall takes us on a journey through a portion of her life by recounting stories of the people and places that served as inspiration for her writing. She begins by telling a heartwarming story about her ties with the great poet Langston hughes and her travels to Europe while on tour with him to discuss African-American literature. This short memoir is based on bodies of water and the effects of these expansions on the lives and culture of black americans. In a descriptive and very accessible style, we learn of her family ties to the Carribean and the great characters in her family, her ties to Virginia, and Nigeria all of which she ties into inspiration for her novels and short stories. This book is as much a peak into history as it is a life story. She recounts the civil rights movement, the slave trade, and emigration into New York City through Ellis Island or by hopping on a steamer headed for "Big America" in the 1920s. ( )