This book! It’s an absolute masterpiece that broke me down and then built me right back up again. The inspirational women of the North family and the city they call home come alive on the pages, and the love that binds them courses through every page like blood through a beating heart. Everyone should read this, it is STUNNING. I can already tell it’s going to be my top read of the year.

A great strong family of beautiful women who you will meet and fall in love with.
This book was like reading poetry so beautiful and real i was sad when this book came to an end, i felt like i had an extended family while reading this.
Life, love and passion is what makes this book so amazing.

This is a well written novel about three generations of women the North family from Memphis.
It is written in what I call the snippet style, that is short, punchy chapters, not in chronological order , but following a sensible order, developing on ideas.

If a film producer decided to produce a film of this book, and someone should, the screenplay is virtually already written.

It is not always easy reading the family have a hard life all in all, but the story is gripping.

This book should be read by everybody who thinks that they have had a hard life, and maybe haven't, and anybody with sufficient empathy to understand the family and their actions.

The author's poetic roots show through as the text is well structured and fairly compact.

Give this book a go, you'll enjoy it.

Thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy for an honest review.

This novel depicts three generations of black women growing up in Memphis, and the history and strength and warmth of their family. It is a very raw depiction of the injustice and hardships that they face as black women, but there is also a great deal of joy and love to be found within the story. The characters are all drawn so vividly and with such care; all three of these characters immediately jumped off the page and into my heart. Their personal journeys are set within the larger history of the time and place. We see Memphis through the ages, and in particular the instinctive pull towards, yet simultaneous desire to get away from this place that many of the characters face.

Finishing this novel felt like a significant moment for me; this book is absolutely going to be a success, and I anticipate it will feature on many prize lists this year. Tara M. Stringfellow is definitely an author to watch!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an eCopy of this book.

Memphis is powerful and filled with the most amazing cast of Black women. A book filled with pride, with family and community and also with fear and violence.

Miriam is returning to her Memphis home with her two young daughters. The man she fell in love with has become a stranger, and a violent one. Back with her beloved sister August, she feels safe. Sort of. Her nephew Derek must be watched at all times. The reason is very painful to read about and may be traumatic for some.

We learn about Miriam and August's mothet, Hazel. A woman broken by gried but strong as an oak tree nevertheless.

August and Miriam are the women they are because of the mother they had.

A love story to black women, to the strength and fortitude necessary to keep fighting for their worth, for their families and for their ancestors.

Moving, upsetting, brilliant - I loved every word of this immense novel.

A beautifully written story of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of three generations of the North family.women in Memphis. The only jarring note for me was the section told by Miriam’s husband as it pulled me away from the women’s stories and didn’t quite gel with the rest of the book. Other than that, everything was well put together and the different timelines kept my interest. The ending was a little abrupt and a bit disappointing but, overall, I would recommend this book.

This is the story of three generations within a family, born and raised in the South of the United States, in Memphis. Stringfellow’s particular focus is on the women of the family and their life experiences as Black women. - These experiences are shared by the author herself, who also calls Memphis her home and whose novel contains more than a glimmer of hope that black women themselves are addressing the fact that their country ‘has a very long way to go in learning how to treat women better than dogs’.

Although the lived experience of Black women is specific and, in many ways, different to that of white women, there is also a lot of common ground and shared experience: ‘The things women do for the sake of their daughters’, is probably a feeling shared by mothers all over the world.

There is Hazel, who in the 1960s marries the love of her life, Myron, who becomes the first black police officer in Memphis. Myron doesn’t live to see the birth of his daughter; he gets lynched by his own colleagues and his unacknowledged violent death radicalises Hazel. She becomes a staunch supporter of the anti-segregation movement and raises two strong daughters, Miriam and August.

Both of them fight their own battles, meet challenges that threaten to break them, but despite the heartbreak, tears and sacrifices – they pave the way for the next generation of the family.

August’s son, damaged through the abuse suffered from his - now absent - father will spend a long time in prison. It is Joan – Miriam’s daughter - supported by her family, who breaks the mould. At the end of the book, she recalls her auntie saying that a black woman would never know the meaning of freedom but she realised, that even her strong and battle-experienced auntie could be wrong. With her scholarship to a London art school, she got a strong sense of freedom, and ‘it tasted just like Mama’s warm blackberry cobblers’.

Their liberating journey is paved with bitter hardship softened by the support of an enviably strong Black community that surrounds them – and it is definitely worth following.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Hachette UK /John Murray Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story is told over three generations of Black women living in Memphis. Joan is 10 years old at the start of the book and is fleeing with her mother and younger sister from her abuisve father. They return to Memphis where her mother grew up and her sister still lives. However Joan faces an abuser of her own back in Memphis. The book flits back and forward telling the story of how her grandparents met and fell in love. Her Grandfather was the first black detective in Memphis but died not long after being appointed. We then learn the story of how her parents met and fell in love and how their relationship got to the point of the 3 of them fleeing. In between the stories we meet residents in the neighbourhood, we see the sisterly love between Joan and Mya - often mainfesting in teasing and we see Joan progress from a 10 year old girl who likes to carry a sketchbook with her to an artist.
I loved this book!

What a debut novel! The story of three generations of black women from Memphis, it is beautifully written with a narrative that goes back and forth over a period of 70 years as we get to know the characters and all that they have had to deal with. Real-life events are skillfully blended into a fictional story full of heartbreak but equally full of hope - it's a story of family, love and community and ultimately about strength to overcome even the harshest of challenges. Uncomfortable reading at times but always engaging, it had me absorbed from beginning to end and left me with much to reflect on.

Three generations of strong Memphis women - powerful and well written, heartbreaking but full of hope. Great debut!

Undoubtedly one of the best books I've ever read. It completely blew me away. Spanning 3 generations, (from 1930s to the 2000s) "Memphis" delves deep into the history of the North family. I don't want to go into detail for fear of spoilers but I completely fell in love with this book and was totally immersed in the cast of characters. Somebody PLEASE option this for film/TV! An utterly stunning debut from Tara Stringfellow. I want to read everything she ever writes. "Memphis" is epic, in every sense of the word.

Brilliant book! Gorgeously written story of a southern black family spanning three generations. Talk about strong women!! A must read.

With thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. In the interests of honesty I’ll say this is 4.5 stars rounded up, but I can’t be sure whether that’s work getting busy and making me lose momentum or the story itself evolving as Joan gets older. It was definitely a 5 at the start and the ending is a good one, the story of the lives of the North women in Memphis compelling and fighting…

I love the writing style, whether it’s Joan’s first person POV or the third person of Miriam (her mother), August (her aunt), or even Hazel (her grandmother). The descriptions are bright and frequently food related so’s you can almost feel where the characters are. Three generations interweave around the personal (no one has a father around for various reasons, there is child sexual assault) of going to school, making enough to put food on the table, and the bigger events going on in Memphis, America, and the world (gang rivalry, 9/11, WW2) while staying rooted to home and the house in Memphis. There is joy and trauma. It’s a way of looking at and feeling about, and seeing with a perspective putting words to living as a family.

A really strong debut from an author to be watched in the future. I really enjoyed the story of these Black women over different periods (some of them really historic moments), celebrated their triumphs and suffered with their losses.
I can't recommend this book enough. A must read for 2022.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

This is a beautiful celebration of the power and strength of black women. Stringfellow paints a picture of the women of the North family, spanning three generations. We see their joys and tragedies, some seeming to repeat themselves, and witness these women continually applying resilience and solidity to protect themselves from a world which threatens their safe existence.

Stringfellow’s characterisation here was my favourite thing of all. Yes, she gives us these strong women, but we’re also shown how this world affects them, how it judges and belittles them, and how the world itself has forced them into strength. Each of these women are so diverse in personality, brimming with their own desires and motivations, with their longings and regrets. We see their community, their coming together, their deep understanding of each other. It’s truly beautiful, a novel full of life and vivid pictures.

There’s so much heartbreak and woe here, mixed in with love and protection, all of it important to read and understand, particularly as a white woman. <i>Memphis</i> seems to have burrowed its way directly into my heart; it’s such an important and powerful novel for all of us to either learn from, or to relate to.

Tara M. Stringfellow's beautifully written and moving debut charts the lives of 3 generations of black women, the sorrows, trauma, tragedy, poverty, violence, domestic and sexual abuse, sacrifice and heartbreak, and the consequences on the generations that follow. A blend of fact and fiction, the story takes places amidst the background of significant events in American history, such as the civil rights movement and the 2001 9/11 attacks, and the experience and impact of Southern American racism. Miriam finds herself escaping a violent partner and marriage with her two daughters, Joan and Mya, and with few choices open to her, she heads to Douglass, Memphis, Tennessee, to her family's ancestral home, built by her grandfather, a black detective, who was lynched, whilst her grandmother, Hazel, was pregnant.

In a non-linear narrative that goes back and forth in time, the exact nature of the horrors, hopes, dreams, love and challenges of the lives and what happened to the women, and their battles to survive, are slowly revealed. Miriam's sister, August, who has lost her faith in god and men, is having issues with her son, Derek. August welcomes Miriam and her daughters, she is a independent woman, with strong and supportive links in the community. A traumatised Joan finds solace and healing through art and the pictures she paints. There are a wide range of characters in the novel, vibrant and skilfully drawn, with each of the women having a distinctive voice.

This is a heartbreaking read, which I loved with its celebration of the strength and resilience of black women, of family, friendships and the community, in the face of the most adverse of circumstances. They have to deal with the poverty, inequalities, and the grief, despair and pain of the past, whilst trying to build and forge a future. This is such a terrifically memorable multigenerational family debut by Stringfellow, that it has me really looking forward to what she comes up with next. Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

A multi-generational family tale, this read spans about 70 years with all the richness you would imagine.
With a whole host of voices, I can imagine this being an amazing audiobook, but nevertheless it came to life off the pages and I felt myself there in Memphis amongst the sights, sounds and smells that Stringfellow conjures up.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

Memphis is an utterly spellbinding family epic following three generations of Black women in the American South. It's the kind of novel that sweeps you up from its opening chapter and immerses you in its world, weaving together 70 years of love and trauma. While it can be a little heavy-handed with its emotive messaging, the characters and their stories are written with such sincerity that you can't help but mourn and celebrate along with them.

A compelling generational saga, Memphis is a powerful homage to Black female resilience.

We follow 3 generations of black women which makes this story so interesting.
Pretty hard-hitting: grief, death, police brutality, domestic abuse.
But also uplifting and hopeful.

Powerful stories of generations of women of colour .. focus is on perennial difficulties women's lives face from Rape to suggestions domestic abuse... so difficulties come from their men too .. while the women bear great burden of domestic life entirely. The writing is allusive and engaging, each character distinct and intriguing .. reveals genuine cultural tropes ..an important novel!