In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia. Hattie gives birth to nine children whom she raises with grit and mettle and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave. The Shepherd children confront desolation, poverty, and the coldness and cruelty of their time.

In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia. Hattie gives birth to nine children whom she raises with grit and mettle and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave. The Shepherd children confront desolation, poverty, and the coldness and cruelty of their time.

In a sweeping tale that moves forward and backward in time across sixty years in Georgia and Philadelphia, Ayana Mathis’s extraordinary first novel tells the story of an unforgettable family --- and an indomitable woman --- caught in singular moment in American history.

In 1923, fifteen-year-old Hattie Shepherd, hoping for a chance at a better life, flees Georgia and settles in Philadelphia with her twin babies. Instead, she watches helplessly as they succumb to an illness that a few pennies might have prevented. Hattie gives birth to nine more children whom she raises with grit and mettle and not an ounce of the tenderness they crave, fearing a show of tenderness would inadequately prepare them for the calamitous difficulty they are sure to face in their lives. True to Hattie’s expectations, the Shepherd children confront desolation, poverty, and the coldness and cruelty of their time. Floyd and Franklin battle inner demons in music halls and in the jungles of Vietnam; Bell, ruinously ill, awaits death but discovers salvation from an unexpected source; Alice and Billups wrestle with a secret history that threatens to undo them both; and Ella and Ruthie—one of whom escapes to a brighter life, at a devastating cost—are caught in the vortex of their mother’s deepest passions.

Hattie’s children, her tribes, are the children of the Great Migration. Their lives, captured here in twelve distinct and soaring narrative threads, tell the story of a mother’s monumental courage and the journey of a nation.

In WHY I READ, Wendy Lesser draws on a lifetime of pleasure reading and decades of editing to describe a life lived in and through literature. As Lesser examines work from such perspectives as “Character and Plot,” “Novelty,” “Grandeur and Intimacy” and “Authority,” the reader will discover a definition of literature that is as broad as it is broad-minded. In addition to novels and stories, Lesser explores plays, poems and essays, along with mysteries, science fiction and memoirs.

In WHY I READ, Wendy Lesser draws on a lifetime of pleasure reading and decades of editing to describe a life lived in and through literature. As Lesser examines work from such perspectives as “Character and Plot,” “Novelty,” “Grandeur and Intimacy” and “Authority,” the reader will discover a definition of literature that is as broad as it is broad-minded. In addition to novels and stories, Lesser explores plays, poems and essays, along with mysteries, science fiction and memoirs.

“Wendy Lesser’s extraordinary alertness, intelligence, and curiosity have made her one of America’s most significant cultural critics,” writes Stephen Greenblatt.

In WHY I READ, she draws on a lifetime of pleasure reading and decades of editing to describe a life lived in and through literature. As Lesser examines work from such perspectives as “Character and Plot,” “Novelty,” “Grandeur and Intimacy” and “Authority,” the reader will discover a definition of literature that is as broad as it is broad-minded. In addition to novels and stories, Lesser explores plays, poems and essays, along with mysteries, science fiction and memoirs. Her passion for reading is infectious --- and it resonates on every page.

Iconoclastic, conversational and full of insight, WHY I READ will delight avid readers as well as neophytes in search of sheer literary fun.

When her chronically unemployed husband runs off to start a crocodile farm in Kenya with his mistress, Joséphine Cortès is left in an unhappy state of affairs. The mother of two---confident, beautiful teenage Hortense and shy, babyish Zoé---is forced to maintain a stable family life while making ends meet on her meager salary as a medieval history scholar. Meanwhile, Joséphine’s charismatic sister Iris seems to have it all---a wealthy husband, gorgeous looks, and a très chic Paris address---but she dreams of bringing meaning back into her life.

When her chronically unemployed husband runs off to start a crocodile farm in Kenya with his mistress, Joséphine Cortès is left in an unhappy state of affairs. The mother of two---confident, beautiful teenage Hortense and shy, babyish Zoé---is forced to maintain a stable family life while making ends meet on her meager salary as a medieval history scholar. Meanwhile, Joséphine’s charismatic sister Iris seems to have it all---a wealthy husband, gorgeous looks, and a très chic Paris address---but she dreams of bringing meaning back into her life.

When her chronically unemployed husband runs off to start a crocodile farm in Kenya with his mistress, Joséphine Cortès is left in an unhappy state of affairs.The mother of two—confident, beautiful teenage Hortense and shy, babyish Zoé—is forced to maintain a stable family life while making ends meet on her meager salary as a medieval history scholar. Meanwhile, Joséphine’s charismatic sister Iris seems to have it all—a wealthy husband, gorgeous looks, and a très chic Paris address—but she dreams of bringing meaning back into her life. When Iris charms a famous publisher into offering her a lucrative deal for a twelfth-century romance, she offers her sister a deal of her own: Joséphine will write the novel and pocket all the proceeds, but the book will be published under Iris’s name. All is well—that is, until the book becomes the literary sensation of the season.