Homegoing: A novel

Yaa Gyasi

Jun 2016 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE'S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE • WINNER OF THE PEN / HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT FICTION • Ghana, eighteenth century: two half sisters are born into different villages, each unaware of the other. One will marry an Englishman and lead a life of comfort in the palatial rooms of the Cape Coast Castle. The other will be captured in a raid on her village, imprisoned in the very same castle, and sold into slavery.

One of Oprah’s Best Books of the Year, Homegoing follows the parallel paths of these sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. Yaa Gyasi’s extraordinary novel illuminates slavery’s troubled legacy both for those who were taken and those who stayed—and shows how the memory of captivity has been inscribed on the soul of our nation.

Ratings and reviews

I felt so close to this book, as I am a first gen American of Ghanaian parents. I was so immersed in the book. It was great to see how all of the characters were connected. This is one of my favorite books, period.

I love this book. Definitely recommend it. This book is about family. Through out the ordeals each character went through, the family was the focus. I understood the pain the characters experienced. Great story.

This book told me more about the history of my country Ghana than I expected. I cried reading this book because I felt I was reading my own life story. Definitely a great book to read

About the author

YAA GYASI was born in Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. She holds a BA in English from Stanford University and an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she held a Dean’s Graduate Research Fellowship. She lives in New York City.