viii, [2], 261 pp. 8vo. Author's first novel. Violet, Lilly, and Rose know how it feels to be black women trying to find their place in a changing white world. Violet, the eldest, grows up believing in the myth of the southern belle-only to discover that good manners and genteel charm aren't going to bring her acceptance from a closed-minded society... or a philandering husband. Lilly is an ex-Black Panther and writer caught up in the stormy aftermath of the sixties; she shuts out this new world of confusion and pain with the heroin that can never give her peace-or salvation. Rose is the youngest, a sculptor who has shaped herself in the image of an independent black woman grounded in the political movements of her time. But she carries a secret heartache that will resonate in the life of her daughter, Imani, who grows up searching for the daddy she longs to know. Earthy, evocative, rich in the atmosphere and emotional turmoil of the times, Getting Our Breath Back is a story of struggle and forgiveness, of separation and reconciliation... of women who must reinvent themselves if they are to survive, to heal, and to flourish.
