Family

In this wise, beguiling, beautiful novel set in the era of the Civil War, an award-winning playwright and author paints a haunting portrait of a woman named Always, born a slave, and four generations of her African-American family.

“Family is an account by a plantation slave—both during and after her life—of the horrors and dreams that have beset her family over several generations....In its strong rhythms and colloquial expressions, this book is a living woman’s monologue....While this book may be filled with tragedies, it is also about survival.”—The New York Times Book Review

“With power and grace, Cooper weaves the dialect, styles and myths of the South into a portrait of the hell that was slavery.... Masterful.”
—Publishers Weekly