Novels of Gloria Naylor
Three lyrical and unforgettable novels from the National Book Award–winning author of The Women of Brewster Place.
After winning both the National Book Award and the American Book Award for her now iconic debut novel, The Women of Brewster Place, which was later made into a TV miniseries starring Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Naylor continued to garner acclaim as one of the most original voices in twentieth-century American literature with novels such as Mama Day, Linden Hills, and Bailey’s Cafe.
Mama Day: On Willow Springs, an island off the coast between Georgia and South Carolina, superstition is more potent than any trappings of the modern world. Here, the formidable Mama Day uses her powers to heal. But her great-niece, Cocoa, can’t wait to escape to New York City. When Cocoa returns to the island with her husband, George, darker forces challenge the couple—and their only hope may be the mystical matriarch. Steeped in the folklore of the South and inspired by Shakespeare, Mama Day is one of Naylor’s “richest and most complex” novels (Providence Journal).
“[A] wonderful novel, full of spirit and sass and wisdom, and completely realized.” —The Washington Post
Linden Hills: For its wealthy African American residents, the exclusive neighborhood of Linden Hills is a symbol of making it. But what happens when the dream of material success turns out to be an empty promise? Using Dante’s Inferno as a model, Naylor reveals the true cost of success for the lost souls of Linden Hills—a hell of their own making.
“Every page contains a brilliant insight, a fine description, some petty and human, some grandiloquent.” —Chicago Tribune
Bailey’s Cafe: This “moving and memorable” national bestseller is set in post–World War II Brooklyn, on a quiet backstreet, where Bailey’s Cafe serves as a crossroads for a broad range of patrons, a place of limbo for tortured souls before they move on—or check out (Boston Globe).
“A virtuoso orchestration of survival, suffering, courage and humor.” —The New York Times Book Review