Darnella Ford: 5 books

A Southern coming-of-age. . ..Ford's Shreveport is an unforgiving place—swampy, seductive and judgmental—that's reflected in her blunt but intoxicating prose. —Publishers Weekly Eleven-year-old Blaze James and her twin sister, Aerial, know two things beyond a doubt. They're two of the...

She should have been able to trust him.... "Night sweats were my dance, especially in the Huston home. They were a continuation of the visions I had experienced in Dorchester, only here, they were much more violent." Set in a wealthy community in northern Michigan, Rising tells...

Dear Jesus, Gerry didn't work out because Gerry didn't work. And after spending one night in complete darkness because "pretty didn't pay the light bill," Gerry and I broke up and are no longer speaking. Marshall wasn't a viable suitor because when he finally revealed himself...

For Vanessa, a low-income housing complex in the middle of the desert in El Mirage, Arizona, represents all that is wrong with her life. Her neighbors get it on all night long, she sees an abusive husband kill his wife, and then himself, and her own ex-husband keeps showing up and getting into her...

Exemplified by the power of the human spirit, life in the face of death, she had the courage to challenge a generation to release the shackles of ignorance surrounding women and gender roles. All of this and more is lyrically conveyed in Cheryl Waiters' autobiographical novel titled "Blood Sweat...