Daisy Turner's Kin

Daisy Turner's Kin an African American Family Saga
by Jane C. Beck

A daughter of freed African American slaves, Daisy Turner became a living repository of history. The family narrative entrusted to her--"a well-polished artifact, an heirloom that had been carefully preserved"--began among the Yoruba in West Africa and continued with her own century and more of life.

In 1983, folklorist Jane Beck began a series of interviews with Turner, then one hundred years old and still relating four generations of oral history. Beck uses Turner's storytelling to build the Turner family saga, using at its foundation the oft-repeated touchstone stories at the heart of their experiences: the abduction into slavery of Turner's African ancestors; Daisy's father Alec Turner learning to read; his return as a soldier to his former plantation to kill his former overseer; and Daisy's childhood stand against racism. Other stories re-create enslavement and her father's life in Vermont--in short, the range of life events large and small, transmitted by means so alive as to include voice inflections. Beck, at the same time, weaves in historical research and offers a folklorist's perspective on oral history and the hazards--and uses--of memory. (Publisher Summary)

If You Like The Inventions of Wings You May Also Like...

Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings traces more than three decades in the lives of a wealthy Charleston debutante who longs to break free from the strictures of her household and pursue a meaningful life; and the urban slave, Handful, who is placed in her charge as a child before finding courage and a sense of self.

Are you finished reading The Invention of Wings and wondering what to read next? Why not try one of these titles (recommended by NoveList):

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier: Forced to leave England and struggling with illness in the wake of a family tragedy, Quaker Honor Bright is forced to rely on strangers in the harsh landscape of 1850 Ohio and is compelled to join the Underground Railroad network to help runaway slaves escape to freedom.

The Wedding Gift by Marlen Suyapa Bodden: In 1852, when a prestigious Alabama plantation owner gives his daughter Clarissa's hand in marriage, she takes with her a gift: Sarah—her slave and her half-sister. Clarissa is not the proper Southern belle she appears to be with ambitions of loving whom she chooses. Sarah equally hides behind the façade of being a docile house slave as she plots to escape. Both women bring these tumultuous secrets and desires with them to their new home, igniting events that spiral into a tale beyond what you ever imagined possible.

Property by Valerie Martin: The events, tragedies, and emotional repercussions of slavery and a slave revolt in the antebellum South are seen through the eyes of Manon Gaudet, a pretty, petulant, self-absorbed slave owner, who marries the wealthy owner of a sugar plantation near New Orleans, only to see her own prized slave, Sarah, become her husband's mistress.

The March by E.L Doctorow:  Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating march through Georgia and the Carolinas during the final years of the Civil War has a profound impact on the outcome of the war, in a richly textured, evocative historical novel that captures the full experience of the diverse characters caught up in the struggle.

Long Island Reads 2014

Join fellow Long Islanders in reading the 2014 Long Island reads selection The Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long Island by Mac Griswold!

In 1984, the landscape historian Mac Griswold was rowing along a Long Island creek when she came upon a stately yellow house and a garden guarded by looming boxwoods. She instantly knew that boxwoods that large—twelve feet tall, fifteen feet wide—had to be hundreds of years old. So, as it happened, was the house: Sylvester Manor had been held in the same family for eleven generations. And so begins the author's journey to uncover the secrets and stories of The Manor.

Based on years of research and voyages that took Griswold as far as West Africa, this compelling history of a Long Island plantation located on Shelter Island, spanning three centuries and 11 generations, reveals the extensive but little-known story of Northern slavery. Griswold's The Manor is at once an investigation into forgotten lives and a sweeping drama that captures our history in all its richness and suffering.

An author talk and book signing will be held at Sylvester Manor on Saturday, May 17 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm.. For more information click here.

For a Reader's Guide to The Manor click here.

Join us for a book discussion about The Manor on Wednesday, April 23 from 2:00 - 4:00pm. Click the "Book Discussion" box to the right to register. Copies of the book will be available at the circulation desk after March 20.

Oprah Announces Third Selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0...

...and the powerful new novel is The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd!  Click here to read a sneak peek of the article that will appear in the January edition of O, The Oprah Magazine.  

Written by Sue Monk Kidd, the best-selling author of The Secret Life of Bees, The Invention of Wings was inspired by the true story of Sarah Grimké, a 19th century abolitionist and suffragist.  The story follows the unlikely friendship between wealthy Charleston debutante, Sarah, and her slave, Handful, who was given to Sarah as a birthday present when she turned eleven years old.  Although their suffering and pain are not the same, both girl long to be free, Sarah from Southern patriarchy and racism and Handful from the bonds of slavery.  According to Oprah, "Sue Monk Kidd has written a conversation changer.  It is impossible to read this book and not come away thinking differently about our status as women and about all the unsung heroines who played a role in getting us where we are."

The Invention of Wings is set to release on January 7th, click here to place your hold today!